After months on hold, efforts to develop a next-generation Global Positioning System are moving smartly ahead, with the U.S. Air Force expected to release a request for proposals next month. Phase A contracts, worth $20-25-million and lasting 21-29 months, are to follow in September. They would help define requirements. First launch of a GPS III satellite is being eyed for Fiscal 2012, and possibly as early as Fiscal 2010.

The government's new activity, sparked by the central role of the current GPS II constellation in the war in Iraq, has prompted new industry activity. Lockheed Martin and Spectrum Astro, which had been competitors for GPS III, announced that they are joining forces to vie against Boeing for the multibillion-dollar program.

"Combining with them, we have a better chance of our innovations being the ones that are chosen for GPS III," said Mike Greenwood, a spokesman for Spectrum Astro. "We tried to prime on our own, and it just became [apparent that it would make] strategic sense for both us and Lockheed to get together. Lockheed is the prime contractor, and we're considered the principal partner. We're going to be responsible for building the spacecraft bus and contributing to the overall systems engineering."

A top-level Air Force meeting at the Pentagon on Apr. 17 signaled a break in the GPS III logjam. The participants were Peter B. Teets, Air Force undersecretary; Gen. Lance W. Lord, commander of Air Force Space Command; and Lt. Gen. Brian A. Arnold, commander of USAF's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC).

Days later, on Apr. 24, SMC issued a request for information on GPS III, saying it wanted responses by May 7. It said "a full and open competition for a single development contract" would be conducted by the GPS Joint Program Office in the third quarter of Fiscal 2005, following completion of the Phase A contracts and a meeting of the Defense Space Acquisition Board.