The Air Force’s second Global Positioning System Block IIF satellite has arrived at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., for its launch this summer, service officials announced. A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket is scheduled to carry the Boeing-built timing and navigation satellite into space in late June. It will join the first GPS Block IIF spacecraft and some 30 other GPS satellites of earlier vintage already working on orbit. The first Block IIF satellite commenced operations last August. The performance of its atomic clock “is the best seen on orbit,” according to service officials. The Air Force plans to procure up to 12 Block IIF satellites from Boeing and then move on to Lockheed Martin’s Block III design. (Includes Los Angeles release)
Boeing has only delivered two KC-46 tankers to the Air Force so far in 2021, despite USAF officials saying they expect that total per month, as the service has slowed the delivery pace of the aircraft. Though there are more aircraft ready at Boeing’s facilities, Air Mobility Command is slowing…