The U.S. Air Force Second Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) has issued a statement that the first GPS III satellite is available for backup.

On. Jan. 13, 2 SOPS issued an Initial Use (USABINIT) NANU for SVN-74, the first of the new generation of GPS-III satellites, according to Rick Hamilton, CGSIC executive secretariat.

SVN-74/PRN-04 was launched on Dec. 23, 2018. Now, having successfully undergone rigorous operational testing on orbit, the satellite has taken its place, backing up SVN-68/PRN-9 at F3 in the active GPS constellation.

NOTICE ADVISORY TO NAVSTAR USERS (NANU) 2020004

SUBJ: SVN74 (PRN04) USABLE JDAY 013/1734

NANU TYPE: USABINIT
NANU NUMBER: 2020004

NANU DTG: 131735Z JAN 2020

REFERENCE NANU: N/A

REF NANU DTG: N/A

SVN: 74

PRN: 04

START JDAY: 013

START TIME ZULU: 1734

START CALENDAR DATE: 13 JAN 2020

STOP JDAY: N/A

STOP TIME ZULU: N/A

STOP CALENDAR DATE: N/A

CONDITION: GPS SATELLITE SVN74 (PRN04) WAS USABLE AS OF JDAY 013
(13 JAN 2020) BEGINNING 1734 ZULU.

POC: CIVILIAN – NAVCEN AT 703-313-5900, HTTPS://WWW.NAVCEN.USCG.GOV
MILITARY – GPS OPERATIONS CENTER at HTTPS://GPS.AFSPC.AF.MIL/GPSOC, DSN 560-2541,

COMM 719-567-2541, gpsoperationscenter@us.af.mil, HTTPS://GPS.AFSPC.AF.MIL

MILITARY ALTERNATE – JOINT SPACE OPERATIONS CENTER, DSN 276-3514,

COMM 805-606-3514, JSPOCCOMBATOPS@VANDENBERG.AF.MIL