08:30 GMT, March 5, 2010 PETERSON AFB, Colo. | Building on the January 2010 upgrade to the Global Positioning System ground control segment, Air Force Space Command engineers will be installing another software release primarily designed to support the pending mid-2010 launch of the first GPS IIF space vehicle.

Engineers at the Global Positioning Systems Wing at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., and Boeing successfully delivered GPS IIF Space Vehicle One to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on Feb. 12.

"Unlike the January release, known as Architecture Evolution Plan 5.5C, this release, known as 5.5D, does not affect any user interfaces, and therefore should be transparent to the end user," said Col. David Buckman, chief of the Positioning, Navigation and Timing Division in AFSPC's Directorate of Requirements. "To ensure such transparency, the software upgrade has undergone rigorous testing and will be monitored very closely by Air Force Space Command to ensure it performs as expected.

"AFSPC has led the charge to improve military and civil navigation capabilities to ensure GPS remains the gold standard for position, navigation, and timing service worldwide," Colonel Buckman said. "We are confident that this improvement initiative will continue the Air Force's commitment to the global community of GPS users."

Air Force Space Command officials have been diligent stewards of GPS since its conception in the 1970s and continue their commitment to this critical component of the national infrastructure. The current GPS constellation has 30 operational satellites broadcasting worldwide and continues to boast performance greater than required. The improved signals provided by the twelve GPS IIF satellites as they launch over the next several years will enhance the precise global positioning, navigation, and timing services supporting both the warfighter and the growing civilian needs of the global economy.

Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center, located at Los Angeles AFB, is the Air Force's center of acquisition excellence for acquiring and developing military space systems including six wings and three groups responsible for GPS, military satellite communications, defense meteorological satellites, space launch and range systems, satellite control network, space based systems, intercontinental ballistic missile systems and space situational awareness capabilities.