Lockheed Pinpointed for GPS Contract

By Scott Kraus, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

May 17–The next generation of global positioning satellites — expected to be capable of pinpointing locations within 9 inches — will be designed at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Bucks County.

The work will employ 400 designers, engineers and administrative workers at the Newtown Township site, including as many as 100 new hires.

The U.S. Air Force awarded a $1.6 billion development and production contract Thursday to a Lockheed Martin-led team that includes ITT Corp. and General Dynamics. The team will develop and produce two GPS III satellites that are expected to be launched in 2014.

The Air Force selected the Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed over Chicago-based Boeing Co. for the work, and can purchase up to 10 additional satellites for a total of $3.3 billion, before it embarks on the second phase of the project.

Lockheed Martin’s Newtown GPS program director Dave Podlesney said work has already begun. But the bulk of hiring — including technical, administrative and managerial employees — will come in about two to three years.

“Our Newtown work force and Bucks County supplier base will be involved in the development of cutting-edge space technologies for years to come,” said Lockheed spokesman Stephen Tatum.

Although initially developed to help the military guide bombs and missiles to targets, map battlefields and direct troops, GPS is integral to consumer services such as navigation systems and automated teller machines.

Bucks County Commissioner Chairman James Cawley said Lockheed’s anticipated work force expansion gives the county a top-flight employer to point to when wooing other high-tech firms.

“That obviously is a major economic shot in our arm at a time in which we are looking for, along with a lot of other different localities out there, good family sustaining jobs,” Cawley said.

Adding to Lockheed’s Newtown-area work force will help strengthen the local economy, said Dick Weaver, chairman of Newtown Corp., a local economic development agency.

“To have them stay here as a solid employer, it brings all those high-end employees into our area here,” said Weaver, a former township supervisor. “They are the kind of people who have more discretionary income.”

Weaver said the company fits in nicely with efforts to focus on drawing high-tech businesses to the township, while ceding traditional manufacturing to lower Bucks County communities like Bensalem and Falls Township.

Some of the 400 workers needed for the project will come from other Lockheed facilities, in particular its site in Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, near Valley Forge National Historical Park.

GPS III technology is considered an improvement over current satellite positioning systems by offering better accuracy and more resistance to hostile jamming.

In addition to the value of the contract, developing and building the next generation GPS-satellites will give Lockheed significant prestige and public profile, analysts said.

The Air Force has the option to throw out to bid the second and third phases of the project, which encompass as many as 24 additional satellites, although it has expressed a preference for sticking with one contractor.

In a teleconference Thursday, Col. Mark Crews, chief engineer for the GPS Wing at the U.S. Space Missile Command in Los Angeles, said that once the new satellites were in orbit, perhaps by 2019, GPS users would be able to pinpoint locations within 9 inches, compared to about 9 feet today.

“You’ll have significantly better accuracy,” Crews said.

Local company officials in Pennsylvania praised U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-8, for supporting funding for the satellite system.

The Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

HIGH-TECH JOBS IN BUCKS:

–Company: Lockheed Martin Space Systems

–Location: Newtown Township

–Project: Design of next-generation global positioning system satellites

–Number of jobs: 400, about 100 new hires

–Type of jobs: Engineering, administration, management

–When: Most hiring in two to three years when project at its peak

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