The first launch of a U.S. Air Force GPS Block 2F satellite has slipped from November to possibly January 2009, the U.S. Department of Defense said. The delay was revealed in a Selected Acquisition Report for the June 2006 reporting period submitted to Congress. The report summarizes the latest estimates of cost, schedule and performance status for the Pentagon’s major procurement initiatives.

Boeing Co. is the prime contractor for the Block 2F program, and is scheduled to build a total of 12 satellites under a contract valued at more than $800 million.

“Working with our customer, Boeing has taken aggressive steps to resolve technical issues on GPS 2F, issues that were not atypical for advanced spacecraft development projects,” Boeing said in an e-mail statement to Satellite Today. “The outcome of independent technical and cost reviews gives us and our customer confidence that the GPS 2F is on solid footing to perform to current cost and schedule requirements.”

“The GPS 2F program has encountered several programmatic and technical issues since the December 2005 selected acquisition report,” Maj. Regi Winchester, an Air Force spokeswoman, told sister publication Defense Daily. Under Secretary of the Air Force Ronald Sega initiated an independent program review to evaluate technical as well as programmatic performance, and the Air Force hopes to launch the first 2F satellite as early as May 2008, Winchester said.

The review also included an independent cost estimate, and “as a result of this review, the program is now being managed to a more realistic schedule and is funded at a higher confidence level,” Winchester said.

“We are totally committed to meeting the government’s projected launch date in mid-2008,” Boeing said in its statement to Satellite Today.