Lockheed Martin lands $514M Space Force contract to build GPS IIIF satellites SV23 and SV24

Lockheed Martin said the U.S. Space Force has awarded the company a $514 million contract to build Global Positioning System (GPS) IIIF space vehicles SV23 and SV24. The deal keeps production moving for the next generation of GPS satellites, which are intended to strengthen accuracy and resilience as older spacecraft approach the end of their design lives.

The contract brings Lockheed Martin’s total GPS IIIF commitment to 14 spacecraft. Lockheed Martin described the upcoming satellites as a modernization step for the broader GPS constellation, whose positioning, navigation and timing capabilities serve both military and civilian users across critical communications and infrastructure.

Lockheed Martin said the satellites will support warfighters who depend on GPS for mission execution and synchronization, and that they will also broadcast civil indicates used by civilian systems. In prepared remarks, Christina Mancinelli, vice president of global communications and navigation at Lockheed Martin, said modernizing the constellation with highly resilient next-generation space vehicles is intended to ensure warfighters have the GPS capabilities required for their missions. She added that the company continues to invest in advanced technology, facilities and people that produce the spacecraft.

The company said the award follows major momentum in the GPS program. Earlier in 2026, Lockheed Martin stated that all of its GPS III satellites reached orbit, with GPS III SV09 and SV10 launched on accelerated timelines. Lockheed also used that milestone to emphasize continuity between the GPS III generation now in space and the follow-on IIIF satellites under construction.

Lockheed Martin’s release framed IIIF as an engineering effort centered on resiliency. The company said starting with SV13, GPS IIIF spacecraft are built on the evolved LM2100 Combat Bus, a combat-tested satellite platform. According to the company, the LM2100 Combat Bus includes features such as increased cyber-hardening, plus improvements to spacecraft power, propulsion and electronics, and it adds size, weight and power to accommodate future capability insertions.

In production status, Lockheed Martin said it has already completed the core mate milestone for three GPS IIIF satellites. Core mate is the official “birth” of a satellite, marking the completion of key assembly steps. The company also said other IIIF satellites are in different phases of production.

The release also linked satellite modernization to ground infrastructure. Lockheed Martin said it was recently awarded a $105 million contract to continue modernization of the GPS ground segment, the systems that monitor, control and support satellite operations. Together, the company suggested, these efforts are designed to maintain a high-performance GPS constellation for users who rely on positioning and timing services worldwide.

Lockheed Martin said it is building the GPS IIIF satellites at its Denver area facilities and is using “emerging technologies” such as augmented reality and digital twins to accelerate build rates. The company did not provide additional technical specifics about the production accelerations, but said the goal is to deliver capabilities to the warfighter quickly.

For now, details remain limited on specific performance metrics for SV23 and SV24 beyond the company’s broader description of resiliency and announcement improvements. While Lockheed Martin cited that IIIF satellites will broadcast all civil indicates, including the interoperable L1C and L5 at greater accuracy and reliability, it did not specify expected anti-jamming performance for SV23 or SV24 individually, nor did it disclose delivery schedules within the contract.

The next questions for market watchers will be how the Space Force and Lockheed Martin plan to sequence launches across the remaining IIIF spacecraft and how quickly the ground segment upgrades can be brought into alignment with the new satellites’ capabilities. With legacy GPS spacecraft moving past intended design life, the pace of both satellite and ground modernization is likely to be a key indicator of how resilient the constellation becomes over time.