Raytheon Co. has finished software and hardware development for its next-generation operational control system and has begun system integrating and testing.
GPS OCX is the enhanced ground control segment of an effort led by the Air Force to modernize the United States’ GPS system. Raytheon leaders report the company is on track to meet the June 2021 delivery deadline in its contract.
“GPS OCX is one of the largest, most complex software development programs in the Department of Defense, and we’re now in the home stretch toward full system delivery,” said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services business.
Work on GPS OCX has involved developing 1.5 million lines of software code, supported by a pivot that began in 2016 toward leading-edge commercial software development processes. The program has also achieved the highest level of cybersecurity protections of any Defense Department space system, according to a Raytheon release.
In December 2018, the Air Force used the cybersecure GPS OCX launch and checkout system, also called Block 0, to launch the first modernized GPS III satellite into space and the second in August 2019.
For the rest of the year, the Raytheon team will focus on delivering the system’s new modernized receivers, which will measure and monitor legacy military and civilian signals sent by the current GPS satellite constellation as well as the new signals sent by the next-generation GPS IIIs.
To learn more about the program, click here.