New GPS in 2019 -- From Lockheed Martin

This is from the Wired Magazine Danger Room -- See the full story and comments HERE I certainly hope that Boeing gets its act together! They are a national asset, but right now it looks like they are begging to be broken into pieces and sold off. -- Derf

Lockheed Trumps Boeing for New GPS
By Sharon Weinberger May 16, 2008 10:51:00 AMCategories: Space
The U.S. Air Force has selected Lockheed Martin over Boeing to build the next generation of navigation satellites. "The loss of the contract, known as Global Positioning System IIIA, was Boeing's third high-profile defeat in as many months," the LA Times notes. "The company lost a $35-billion contest to build aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force in February and a $3.74-billion award to build unmanned spy planes for the Navy in April."

The new generation of satellites will be able to locate objects with 9 inch accuracy, a substantial improvement over the current satellite constellation. That improved accuracy is scheduled to come online in 2019. In the meantime, Boeing appears to be struggling to fulfill its current GPS contract. "Boeing has yet to launch a single satellite under its most recent GPS contract from April 1996, and in 2006 the company forfeited $21.4 million and replaced the program's managers after delays and cost overruns," Bloomberg reports.