The US Space Force has placed the L3Harris-built Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3) into orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. NTS-3 is the Department of Defense's first experimental navigation satellite in almost five decades, and the first fully reprogrammable Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) spacecraft designed to operate in GPS-denied environments.

Ed Zoiss, President of Space and Airborne Systems at L3Harris, said the launch marks a crucial step in updating outdated systems to counter current national security threats. The satellite, developed three times faster and at lower cost than comparable programs, is smaller, lighter and positioned at a higher altitude than traditional PNT platforms.

Once operational, NTS-

See Full Page