Contractors in the hunt to build the GPS satellites the U.S. Air Force will launch next decade are already touting their work on a fully digital navigation payload, an upgrade lawmakers want the Air Force to include when it finally places a follow-on order for the GPS 3 satellites now being built.

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Mike Gruss is the chief content and strategy officer at SpaceNews. From 2013 to 2016 he was a senior reporter at SpaceNews covering military space. Previously, he was editor in chief of Sightline Media Group and worked as a reporter and columnist for...