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The digital payloads a year ago passed a critical design review that required demonstrating the new payload design was mature enough to go into production. The central component of the navigation payload is the mission data unit, which provides more powerful signals and ensures accurate atomic clock operations.
Lockheed Martin selected L3Harris in 2018 to design and build the first two fully digital mission data units and in 2019 awarded the company a $243 million contract for the two payloads. The new award is for four additional units.
Ed Zoiss, president of space and airborne systems at L3Harris, said the new payload will support the transition of the GPS constellation to a future ground control system, known as GPS OCX, made by Raytheon.
The GPS 3 satellites that are currently being launched have an L3Harris mission data unit that is 70 percent digital. The first four GPS 3 satellites have been launched and are now operational. Six more will be launched in the coming years.
The U.S. Space Force plans to start launching GPS 3F satellites in 2026. These will have a 100 percent digital payload. In September 2018, the U.S. Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth $7.2 billion to build up to 22 GPS 3F satellites.