[4/6/07] Lockheed Martin has completed a system design review of the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS Space Segment — GPS Block 3, the company announced April 5. The review — an interim milestone for a $49 million contract awarded in November — validated that the Block 3 system design complies with military and civil user requirements.

The Lockheed Martin-led team, which includes General Dynamics and ITT, is competing against a team led by Boeing Co. to build the GPS 3 constellation. The Air Force plans to award a multi-billion dollar development contract in late 2007.

Separately, Lockheed Martin’s team completed a critical design review phase of the U.S. Navy’s Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) and has made progress on the production readiness phase for the next-generation narrowband tactical satellite communications system. The first MUOS satellite is scheduled for on-orbit handover, along with the entire ground system, to the Navy in 2010.