The U.S. Space Force has awarded Lockheed Martin LMT 0.00%↑ $95 million to cover costs from a production pause on next-generation GPS satellites, raising the cumulative value of the company’s GPS III Follow-On contract to about $4.73 billion.
The Pentagon announced the contract modification on Oct. 30. The payment settles a request for equitable adjustment tied to a “Zero Buy” year, when the Space Force deferred planned annual purchases of GPS IIIF spacecraft in its budget request. The 2018 production contract covers options for up to 22 satellites and carries a potential value of as much as $7.2 billion. Skipping a yearly buy disrupted supplier orders, workforce planning and pricing assumptions built into the pre-negotiated production lots.
Congress later added funding, and the Space Force awarded Lockheed Martin $514 million in June for space vehicles 23 and 24, bringing the number of GPS IIIF satellites on contract to 14. At that price, each satellite costs roughly $257 million before launch. The $95 million adjustment buys no additional spacecraft; it compensates the contractor for the production-line impact of the gap year.
GPS IIIF is the Space Force’s primary path to a more jam-resistant constellation. The satellites feature Regional Military Protection, which concentrates encrypted M-code power over a defined theater, and a fully digital navigation payload that can be reprogrammed on orbit. Beginning with later vehicles, the spacecraft use Lockheed Martin’s LM2100 Combat Bus with added cyber hardening and improved power and propulsion. They continue to broadcast civil signals, including L1C and L5.
Eight options remain under the contract. The fiscal 2027 budget request seeks two more GPS IIIF satellites with nearly $680 million in procurement funds, a signal that appropriators and the service are again treating steady production as a priority.
