Both Boeing and Lockheed Martin have completed the necessary work to proceed on the Global Positioning System Block III program. Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center has awarded $50 million contracts to both companies, headed toward system design review in spring 2007. SMC officials expect to award a development contract for GPS III later this year. Meanwhile, the Air Force reportedly is considering whether to engage an independent contractor to serve as program integrator.
The White House announced its United States Space Priorities Framework in a document released concurrently with Vice President Kamala Harris' first National Space Council meeting. Listed among five U.S. priorities is to “defend its national security interests from the growing scope and scale of space and counterspace threats.”