The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Flight 16 (F16) Block 5D-3 spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin [NYSE:LMT], has now surpassed five years of on-orbit operations. The satellite continues to provide critical weather data to the warfighter, a full year beyond the craft's four year design life. The DMSP constellation is built under contract for the U.S. Air Force and is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

As a result of the constellation’s exceptional performance, stability and longevity, the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. has elected to postpone the planned November 2008 launch of the replacement F18 DMSP spacecraft, preserving future launch options. DMSP is used for strategic and tactical weather prediction to aid the U.S. military in planning operations at sea, on land, and in the air. Equipped with a sophisticated sensor suite that can image cloud cover in visible and infrared bands and measure precipitation, surface temperature and soil moisture, the satellite collects specialized global meteorological, oceanographic, and solar-geophysical information in all weather conditions. The DMSP constellation comprises two spacecraft in near-polar orbits, C3 (command, control and communications), user terminals, and weather centers. The final replacement satellites are maintained at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif. for storage, functional testing, and upgrading until the spacecraft are shipped to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. for launch when requested by the Air Force. Lockheed Martin is competing to build NOAA’s nexgen spacecraft, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite – Series R (GOES-R). The future GOES-R mission will improve the quality and timeliness of weather forecasts to the commercial, educational and public sectors to protect lives, property and the environment, and to foster economic growth and promote educational research.