SpaceX launches a GPS III mission on Jan. 27, 2026. Photo: SpaceX

The U.S. Space Force late Tuesday night successfully launched a GPS III satellite into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle, adding to the service’s constellation of more accurate and jam-resistant position, navigation and timing spacecraft.

The Lockheed Martin-built GPS III-9 Space Vehicle 09 is an M-Code satellite that features increased positional accuracy, anti-jamming and secure encryption in support of military operations. The spacecraft also includes a laser retroreflector array that the company said is “designed to improve measurements of the Earth’s orientation for the GPS coordinate system.”

The SV09 was launched at 11:53 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The launch under the National Security Space Launch program was managed by Space Force’s Space Systems Command System Delta 80. The Space Force’s Combat Forces Command Mission Delta 31 managed the space vehicle processing.

Lockheed Martin is currently controlling the satellite from its Denver, Colo.-based Launch & Checkout Operations Center until the Space Force official accepts SV09 into its operational network.

Production of the 10 planned GPS III satellites has been completed and Lockheed Martin is now building the next-generation GPS IIIF space vehicles.

This story was first published by Defense Daily