Raytheon achieves next-gen GPS milestones

AURORA, Colo., June 16 (UPI) -- Raytheon has passed qualification and critical design review milestones in development of the Air Force's next-generation GPS OCX system, the company announced Thursday.

The system offers big improvements to GPS, enhancing availability, accuracy and security, Raytheon said in a statement.

When completed, the system will offer new positioning, navigation and timing capabilities for military and civilian users worldwide.  OCX is being delivered in blocks, with Block 0 consisting of the launch and checkout system for the launch and early orbit of GPS III satellites.

Block 1 delivers full OCX capability, which Raytheon said will allow the Air Force to transition from its current GPS ground controls to a modernized and more secure OCX.

Block 2 is delivered with Block 1 and includes navigation warfare enhancements.

The OCX monitor station receiver passed its first successful milestone by completing the Block 1 Electromagnetic Interference Test with a 100 percent requirements pass rate, Raytheon said.

It demonstrates the unit meets susceptibility and emissions electromagnetic interference requirements that are necessary in deployment as part of 17 monitoring stations around the world.

The second milestone was the successful Block 2 hardware critical design review, which will pave the way for hardware development.

"The completion of these test and design milestones demonstrates our progress on OCX execution with our Air Force customer," Bill Sullivan, GPS OCX vice president and program manager for Raytheon, said. "As the program execution has stabilized, we are showing consistent progress on downstream deliveries for the GPS OCX program."