Air Force waves off warnings about GPS accuracy
A government report says the accuracy of GPS signals could deteriorate in the next few years because of delays in satellite launches, but the Air Force says it has plenty of ways of keeping up the navigation system increasingly relied on by drivers and cell phone users.
The next generation of GPS satellites, dubbed IIF, has been beset by launch delays and budget overruns. Contractor Boeing said the delays were due to design changes necessary to ensure that the satellites would last. The work is now done, and the first IIF is slated to launch in November, nearly three years behind schedule. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, said the chief risk is that the following generation of satellites, IIIA, will be delayed in a similar fashion. Lockheed Martin is building that series, and the first are scheduled to launch in 2014.
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