Continuing a legacy of more than 30 years supporting the Global Positioning System, Lockheed Martin has been awarded a contract to sustain the ground control segment for the GPS satellite constellation.

The U.S. Air Force Space Command Space and Missile Center awarded Lockheed Martin a $104 million contract to support the GPS ground control segment. The contract's period of performance is from January 2013 through June 2019.

The GPS mission is crucial to sustaining the nation's space superiority, and ensuring that precise position, navigation, and timing signals are available for worldwide users across numerous domains.

The demands for near 100 percent system availability, as well as the fiscal constraints being placed on the GPS program are critical factors in sustaining the GPS control station.

"Lockheed Martin is committed to sustaining the ground system for this critical mission," said Rob Smith, vice president of Space and Cyber for Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions-Defense.

"We'll mirror our past successful performance to ensure that GPS continues providing reliable, worldwide positioning and navigation services to meet the burgeoning demand from strategic and tactical users worldwide."

To help the GPS program achieve its complex mission, Lockheed Martin will provide sustainment for the GPS control segment, which enables Air Force Space Command 2nd Space Operations Squadron to perform on-orbit operational control of the GPS satellite constellation.

Under the new contract, Lockheed Martin will provide organizational and depot sustainment support, which includes support for command and control ground systems, systems engineering, hardware and communications engineering, space vehicle and ground equipment simulation, software testing and hardware maintenance.

Lockheed Martin's team includes small businesses Arctic Slope Research Corporation (ASRC), ISYS Technologies, Overlook Systems Technologies and Tigua Technology Services who will perform hardware engineering, software test, technical order management and systems administration functions.

Also on the team is the Ogden Air Logistics Center, who will provide Depot level software maintenance and test support.