September 26, 2011 - Raytheon Company has successfully completed preliminary design review for the Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX), an important milestone in determining the program's development approach, cost estimates and delivery schedule.  

The United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), having reached Fully Operational Capability on July 17, 1995 has completed its original design goals. However, additional advances in technology and new demands on the existing system led to the effort to modernize the GPS system. Announcements from the Vice President and the White House in 1998 initiated these changes. In 2000, U.S. Congress authorized the effort, referred to as GPS III. 

The project involves new ground stations and new satellites, with additional navigation signals for both civilian and military users, and aims to improve the accuracy and availability for all users. Lockheed Martin was awarded the GPS III Space Segment contract on May 15, 2008. The first launch is projected for 2014. Raytheon was awarded the Next Generation GPS Control Segment (OCX) contract on Feb 25, 2010. 

The review, which was conducted by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's (SMC) GPS Directorate, assessed the architectural and technical maturity of the program design. "Successful completion of the PDR is a significant milestone validating our design and confirming the Raytheon-led team's proven capabilities and commitment to delivering GPS OCX Block 1 on time and on budget," said Lynn Dugle, president of Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems. 

"Our successful PDR results demonstrate that the program's design maturity meets the MIL-STD-1521B standard and will allow the team to proceed with the completion of the next phase of development in preparation for GPS III launch in 2014," said Robert Canty, vice president and GPS OCX program manager for Raytheon's Intelligence and Information Systems business.

GPS OCX is the next generation operational gateway service designed to provide secure, accurate and reliable navigation and timing information to effectively support military, commercial and civil users. GPS OCX will be the service integrator between ground, space and user segments to enhance mission command and control, and situational awareness capabilities, while seamlessly supporting billions of users around the world. 

"By acting as a service bridge between the space and user segments, GPS OCX will enable an innovative, user-centric system, allowing users to experience the benefits of advanced technologies aboard satellites already in orbit and those yet to be built," Canty added. "The OCX segment will increase system capacity and support the new GPS III satellites -- which the current GPS control segment cannot -- and is scalable to support future growth."