Lockheed to Lose Fee on GPS III Satellites from Cost Overrun

April 20, 2012 - By GPS World Staff

The U.S. Air Force says defense contractor Lockheed Martin will lose its entire fee of about $70 million to defray an 18 percent cost overrun on the first of its newly designed GPS III satellites, the Washington Post reported.

Lockheed had estimated that it would cost $1.5 billion to develop, test and build the first two GPS III satellites, but Air Force spokeswoman Vicki Stein said the cost had risen to $1.62 billion.

The new GPS III satellites are designed to deliver more accuracy, an anti-jamming capability and a civilian signal that can operate with Europe’s Galileo system.