Astro Aerospace, a Northrop Grumman business unit, has developed and delivered 16 monopole, self deploying JIB antennas to Lockheed Martin satellite building company for their state-of-the-art global positioning system satellites.
The 16 JIB antennas will support Astro Aerospace’s GPS satellite constellation. In the past, over 1000 JIB assemblies have been provided for the GPS IIR & GPS IIF spacecraft configurations.
The GPS constellation consisting of 24 satellites are maintained, operated and developed by the United States Air Force to provide information on worldwide navigation. The GPS III satellites are being developed in Newton, PA by a team led by Lockheed Martin. The GPS III will tentatively join the constellation on-orbit in 2014.
The JIB antennas have an adaptable design configuration and are available in monopole diameters in various lengths ranging from 1.5” to 25’.
The General Manager of Astro Aerospace, John Alvarez stated that the GPS constellation is an asset serving millions of people across the globe and that the antennas were developed to achieve mission assurance goals and affordability for the next generation GPS satellites. Alvarez also added that the GPS III will advance navigation, timing and position services and provide improved anti-jam capabilities.
Source: http://www.northropgrumman.com