Under the agreement's terms, the companies will perform systems engineering and technical assistance tasks for each other in the areas of interoperability, integrity and optimization of joint constellation performance. LM and EADS also will offer reciprocal bids on operational hardware and software within the policy and export constraints of both programs.

"This teaming is strictly on the commercial side," Keith Mordoff, a Lockheed Martin spokesman, told SpaceDaily.com. "There is a U.S. and European Union agreement that provides a government-to-government basis for the GPS and Galileo navigation systems to be engineered to work together."

Mordoff said regarding any security issues related to interaction between the two navigation systems, the federal government has established a working group covering that arena.

"This opens a new dimension of cooperation between two of the world's leading technology companies in systems that will benefit consumers for decades as the Galileo and GPS III systems come on line," said Reinhold Lutz, EADS senior vice president for Earth observation, navigation and science.

"We look forward to making our 30 years of GPS experience available to the Galileo program to maximize performance and utility for all users of satellite navigation when both Galileo and GPS III are in operation," said Marshall Keith, LM Integrated Systems & Solutions vice president for international programs.

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