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| PNT MEDIA ITEMS                                                       |
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| [**www.pnt.gov**](http://www.pnt.gov/)                                |
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October 17, 2007

4TH MODERNIZED GPS SATELLITE LAUNCHED

17 October 2007

[PR Newswire (U.S.)](javascript:void(0))

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla\-- A U.S. Air Force modernized
Global Positioning System Block IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellite, designed and
built by Lockheed Martin, was successfully launched today from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta
II launch vehicle.

Designated GPS IIR-17M, the satellite is the fourth in a series of eight
Block IIR-M spacecraft that Lockheed Martin Navigation Systems has
modernized for its customer, the Global Positioning Systems Wing, Space
and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. The Block
IIR-M series includes new features that enhance operations and
navigation signal performance for military and civilian GPS users around
the globe.

\" Lockheed Martin is extremely proud of its partnership with the Air
Force to sustain and improve the GPS constellation,\" said Don DeGryse,
Lockheed Martin\'s vice president of Navigation Systems. \"We look
forward to executing a timely and efficient on-orbit checkout of this
advanced spacecraft and providing GPS users worldwide with increased
navigation capabilities.\"

Each IIR-M satellite includes a modernized antenna panel that provides
increased signal power to receivers on the ground, two new military
signals for improved accuracy, enhanced encryption and anti-jamming
capabilities for the military, and a second civil signal that will
provide users with an open access signal on a different frequency. The
satellite launched today joins three IIR-M satellites and 12 other
operational Block IIR satellites within the current 28-spacecraft
constellation.

The Global Positioning System enables properly equipped users to
determine precise time and velocity and worldwide latitude, longitude
and altitude to within a few meters. Air Force Space Command\'s 2nd
Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo.,
manages and operates the GPS constellation for both civil and military
users.

Lockheed Martin is also leading a team which includes ITT and General
Dynamics in the competition to build the U.S. Air Force\'s
next-generation Global Positioning System, GPS Block III. The
next-generation program will improve position, navigation, and timing
services for the warfighter and civil users worldwide and provide
advanced anti-jam capabilities yielding improved system security,
accuracy and reliability. A multi-billion dollar development contract is
scheduled to be awarded by the Global Positioning Systems Wing, Space
and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. in early
2008.

GERMANY AND FRANCE SPAR OVER EU SATELLITE PROJECT

Bloomberg News Service

16 October 2007

The European Union failed to break a deadlock earlier this month over a
satellite project as Germany held out for more control over the venture,
which would rival the US system.

The EU faces an additional bill of €2.4 billion (\$3.4 billion) for the
Galileo road, rail, ship and air-traffic control network after companies
such as European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. refused to pay
two-thirds of the launch costs. Germany says national governments should
fund at least part of a bailout and France wants all the extra money to
come from the EU budget.

"We want to defend our interests," Joerg Hennerkes, a state secretary in
the German Transport Ministry, told reporters after a ministerial
meeting today in Luxembourg. "It's about the financing." EU leaders may
have to try to overcome the impasse at a mid-December summit.

The €4.5 billion satellite program, one of Europe's biggest projects
since Airbus in the 1970s, is faltering because of mounting costs. The
European Commission, the 27-nation EU's regulatory arm, proposed a
rescue last month by shifting to Galileo some money earmarked for
agriculture and administration in the bloc's 2007-2013 budget.

National subsidies for any rescue of Galileo would increase the
influence of individual governments over the project and, for big
contributors to the EU budget such as Germany, limit the political risks
of endorsing a bailout. Companies from countries including Germany,
France, the UK, Italy and Spain are seeking to profit from the project.

EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot, a Frenchman, says national
funding undermines the EU's role. He has the backing of a French-led
group of EU nations as well as of the European Parliament. "Barrot's
proposal is an excellent basis for work," said Dominique Bussereau,
France's state secretary for transport. The French government supports
it "100 percent," he said.

Governments have already pledged €1.5 billion to cover the entire
initial "development" phase of Galileo and earmarked another €600
million for part of the launch costs. The EU had expected industry to
meet most of the remaining expenses, saying the growth of commercial
satellite markets would make the venture profitable.

Profitability isn't guaranteed because the government-funded US global
positioning system, known as GPS and designed primarily for defense, is
used for free by businesses worldwide. The EU's planned 30-satellite
system wouldn't become operational before 2012, four years later than
originally foreseen.

The EU abandoned talks with industry on a concession contract in June
after companies refused to take on the risks tied to launching and
operating the system. Faced with having to spend more taxpayers' money
to save the project, governments are keen to secure a role for their
national industrial champions after any new tenders.

In an October joint statement, transport ministers sidestepped the
financing questions and stressed the need for "a balanced participation
of all member states during the different phases of the project while
taking maximum benefit of open competition."

In addition to overestimating the lure of satellite markets for
companies, the EU may be paying a price for letting two bidding groups
led by EADS and Alcatel SA join forces two years ago in the program. The
combination ended a competition aimed at ensuring industry would limit
the cost to taxpayers.

Combining the groups also brought together French military electronics
company Thales SA, the UK's Inmarsat Ventures Ltd., Italy's Finmeccanica
SpA, Spanish satellite operator Hispasat SA and Spanish airport operator
Aena. Deutsche Telekom AG was involved as well through a stake in
another partner called TeleOp GmbH.

Of the money spent so far on Galileo, half has come from the EU budget
and half from the government-funded European Space Agency.

GLONASS SYSTEM TO MONITOR DANGEROUS CARGOES AT BAIKONUR

16 October 2007

[Russia & CIS Military Newswire](javascript:void(0))

KALUGA. Oct 16\-- The Russian Scientific-Research Institute of Space
Instrument Engineering is planning to create a system of satellite
control over vital objects and dangerous cargoes at the Baikonur space
center, Kazakhstan, the institute\'s First Deputy General Director
Vyacheslav Bezborodov told reporters. \"We have reached agreement with
Russian Railways on two projects.

One deals with the monitoring of vital facilities and dangerous cargoes,
such as fuel and carrier rockets, and the other concerns the
installation of navigation devices on railway lines in the north and
south of the country,\" he said. To monitor dangerous cargoes at
Baikonur and freight trains in Russian regions, the GLONASS global
satellite navigation system will be used, Bezborodov said. An
experimental section of Baikonur will be GLONASS-monitored starting from
late 2007, he said.