Posted: Tue, Jan 6, 2004, 11:45 PM ET (0445 GMT)
The Air Force awarded Boeing and Lockheed Martin study contracts Monday for the next generation of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. Each company will receive $20.8 million to work on designs for the GPS 3 satellites, an improved version of existing satellites that would feature improved accuracy and greater resistance to jamming. The contracts run through December 2005, although the major milestone in the work will be a system requirements review in the fourth quarter of 2004. An Air Force spokesman told Reuters that the military is planning to award a single contract for the GPS 3 system in early 2006. Deployment of GPS 3 is currently planned to begin in 2012.

Related Links:

•  Reuters article
•  Lockheed Martin press release