Lockheed Martin GPS III

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

The U.S. Space Force plans to launch the next GPS III satellite no earlier than Jan. 25, the service’s Space Systems Command announced Jan. 22.

The GPS signals on satellites are being jammed from terrestrial sources at growing rates, and the demand for alternate options for position, navigation and timing is burgeoning.

The Vulcan rocket's national security space launch debut orbited the U.S. military's first on-orbit experiment for position, navigation and timing in nearly five decades.

From jam-resistant antennas to magnetic navigation systems, alternatives to GPS are in demand.

Position, navigation and timing services developers are reporting progress on testing GPS alternatives.

Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract from the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to prototype a quantum-enabled inertial navigation system.

The drone gliders can fly in the stratosphere, up to 110,000 ft., and be reused as many as 50 times, St. Gallen-based Meteomatics said on March 20.

The RFI for Space Weather Geostationary Series (SW GEO) Spacecraft was issued on Feb. 18.

The spacecraft was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 7:52 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral.

The Santa Clara, California-based company makes interferometric fiber optic gyroscopes for inertial navigation in GPS-denied areas.

The weapon has been designed under contract through a recently completed 2023 UK Defense Ministry contract.

The prototypes will seek new devices for Inertial sensing and magnetic sensing, plus advances in photonic systems and laser components used by quantum devices.

GPS has become a household term over the last 50 years. Over the coming decades, it is likely to be subsumed into another three-letter term, PNT.

Over 50 years, GPS has evolved and inspired the development of similar systems by other nations.

How much has GPS boosted U.S. businesses? The answer is astronomical.

The FAA released a warning to operators last week of higher GPS spoofing activity affecting commercial aircraft on airways near the Iranian borders.

The U.S. Space Force’s top planning division is starting to look at the next generation of precision navigation and timing capabilities from orbit.