GPS 3 Dominates Air Force 2006 Space Acquisition

摘要

The U.S. Air Force plans to make one of the plums of the 2006 space contracting year, the next-generation GPS satellite navigation system, a model for future satellite procurement, according to a senior service acquisition official. The GPS 3 procurement will incorporate the acquisition reforms proposed by a number of expert panels to address the cost growth and delays that have plagued most major space programs in recent years, said Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel, commander of Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles. The center is the Air Force's procurement shop for satellites and rockets. Gen. Lance Lord, commander of Air Force Space Command, has challenged the center to turn its performance record around and become a model for acquisition across the Pentagon, Hamel said in a Nov. 3 telephone interview. GPS 3 is being groomed as the "flagship" of that effort, he said.