An Atlas 5 rocket is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California March 13, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    WASHINGTON, March 15 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. Air Force modernized Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite built by Lockheed Martin was launched early Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

    The satellite, aboard a Delta II rocket, was launched into space at 2:10 a.m. EDT (0610 GMT) Saturday, according to a statement released by the U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin.

    The satellite, designated GPS IIR-19M, is the sixth in a line of eight GPS IIR satellites that Lockheed Martin has modernized for its customer -- the Global Positioning Systems Wing at Los Angeles Air Force Base in California.

    This GPS satellite series is designed to provide enhanced navigation capabilities for military and civilian GPS users around the globe.

    Each IIR-M satellite includes a modernized antenna panel that provides increased signal power to receivers on the ground, two new military signals for improved accuracy, enhanced encryption and anti-jamming capabilities for the military, and a second civil signal that will provide users with an open access signal on a different frequency.

    The GPS constellation provides critical situational awareness and precision weapon guidance for the military and supports a wide range of civil, scientific and commercial functions -- from air traffic control to the Internet -- with precision location and timing information, said Lockheed Martin.

    Lockheed Martin and its navigation payload provider ITT of Clifton, N.J. designed and built 21 IIR spacecraft and subsequently modernized eight of those spacecraft for the Air Force.