Raytheon has passed both a qualification and a critical design review milestone as part of its development of the US Air Force’s Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System, or GPS OCX.
This new system offers significant improvements to the GPS on which the US military and millions of civilians rely, including enhanced availability, accuracy and security.
OCX’s development is delivered in "blocks," with Block 0 comprising the Launch and Checkout System for the launch and early orbit of GPS III satellites. Block 1 builds on Block 0 to deliver the full OCX capability, which allows the Air Force to transition from its current GPS ground controls to the modernized and secure GPS OCX. Block 2 delivers concurrently with Block 1 and includes GPS Navigation Warfare enhancements.
The first successful milestone for the OCX Monitor Station Receiver Element was the Block 1 Electromagnetic Interference Test, which was completed with a100 percent requirements pass rate. The rigorous qualification test of the OSMRE demonstrates that the unit meets susceptibility and emissions electromagnetic interference requirements necessary in deployment as part of the 17 monitoring stations around the world.
The second milestone for the OSMRE was the successful Block 2 hardware Critical Design Review, clearing the way for hardware development.
"The completion of these test and design milestones demonstrates our progress on OCX execution with our Air Force customer," said Bill Sullivan, GPS OCX vice president and program manager for Raytheon."As the program execution has stabilized, we are showing consistent progress on downstream deliveries for the GPS OCX program."
When completed, the US Air Force-led GPS Modernization Program will yield new positioning, navigation and timing capabilities for both the US military and civilian users across the globe.
GPS OCX is being developed by Raytheon under contract to the US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, which is replacing the current GPS operational control system. The OCX Launch and Checkout System provides an early delivery of much of the overall OCX capability, and will support the GPS III satellite launches.
