[Satellite TODAY 09-28-10] The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) questioned the U.S. Air Force‘s ability to maintain a minimum number of healthy GPS satellites in orbit in a report released Sept. 27.
    In the report, the GAO speculated that Lockheed Martin, which was contracted by the Air Force to build future GPS 3 satellites, could fall behind schedule due to the Air Force’s proposed 72-month timeline. According to the GAO, delays could jeopardize the Pentagon’s plans to launch a number of GPS 3 satellites in quick succession, leaving the United States with fewer than the 24 orbiting satellites.
    The Air Force said the GAO’s report was overly pessimistic. “Even if the first GPS 3 satellite were to fall behind schedule by a year, it would not cause the GPS constellation to drop below 24 satellites, the minimum number required to ensure signal strength and accuracy. A delay of two years would have an impact, but such a delay is unlikely,” Air Force officials said.
    The report also said the latest GPS satellite was nearly three-and-a-half-years late when it was launched in May. However, the Air Force said Lockheed Martin’s GPS 3A program is now two months ahead of schedule following its completion of its critical design review Aug. 19.
    “There’s a tendency in the report to almost take too much from the past and apply that to what we’re doing in the present and the future on GPS,” the Air Force said.
 

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