The Air Force has declared the newest Global Positioning System satellite to be fully operational, according to a Dec. 19 statement from prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Air Force Space Command operators shepherded launch of the GPS IIR-16M satellite from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., last month. It is part of Lockheed’s eight-satellite Block IIR-M series. On-orbit, it joined two other Block IIR-M satellites and 12 original IIR satellites, according to Lockheed.
Unmanned aerial vehicles and autonomous aircraft may provide a solution to operating in heavily contested domains such as the Taiwan Straits, according to a panel of expert who suggested operationalizing artificial intelligence for such purposes sooner rather than later. The group gathered virtually to help launch the Mitchell Institute for…