The US Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center and its mission partners are set to launch the 11th Global Positioning System IIF satellite on 30 October.
The Boeing-built satellite will be launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 launch vehicle from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Space and Missile Systems Center commander and Air Force space programme executive officer Lieutenant general Samuel Greaves said:
"The GPS IIF satellites play a key role in our modernisation effort to provide new space-based capabilities for users around the globe and for decades to come.
"We have successfully placed into operation ten in a series of 12 procured Boeing-built space vehicles, and thanks to the exceptional team of government, industry and launch personnel we are poised to launch the 11th GPS IIF satellite aboard an Atlas V 401 launch vehicle later this week."
Capable of providing jam-resistant military signals in hostile environments, the GPS IIF satellites are an interim class of next-generation satellites designed to replace the GPS Block IIA satellites, which were launched between 1990 and 1997.
The GPS IIF satellites offer greater navigational accuracy through improvements in atomic clock technology, deliver a second civil signal (L2C) for dual-frequency equipment, and a new third civil signal (L5) to support commercial aviation and safety-of-life applications.
Currently, ten GPS IIF satellites are on-orbit and meeting all mission requirements, the USAF stated.
The 12th satellite is set to undergo final processing and expected to be launched in February next year.
Image: A close-up image of a Global Positioning System IIF-series satellite. Photo: courtesy of United Launch Alliance.
