Global Positioning System (GPS)
They were given the green light, the go, the high five. The US Air Force has approved Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE: LMT) Critical Design Review (CDR) for the Contingency Operations (COps) contract that was completed on November 17. The agreement is designed to upgrade the current GPS satellite ground control system that offers new capabilities in which the GPS III satellites will operate more powerfully and accurately. COps is envisioned as a temporary gap filler prior to the entire GPS constellation’s transition to operations onto the next generation Operational Control System (OCX) Block 1, currently in development.
Lockheed Martin will now proceed with software development and systems engineering to modify the existing GPS ground control system, called the Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP) Operational Control Segment. The AEP is currently maintained by Lockheed Martin and controls the 31 GPS IIR, IIR-M and IIF satellites in orbit today.
Once they are launched the COps modifications will allow the AEP to support the more powerful, next generation GPS Block III satellites, enabling them to perform their positioning, navigation and timing mission.
Mark Stewart, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Navigation Systems mission area said, “The GPS constellation is a valuable asset to our warfighters, our nation and the world. This risk-reduction effort ensures the Air Force has the ability to maintain the constellation at full strength. We are here to support the Air Force and the GPS III program any way we can.”
The Air Force awarded the $96 million COps services and supplies contract to Lockheed Martin on February 3. The government approved the company’s proposed ground system modification during a Preliminary Design Review on May 11.
U.S. Air Force GPS satellite operators at the master control station, Schriever Air Force Base, Colo. (photo courtesy of the U.S. Air Force)
On October 15, under a separate contract, Lockheed Martin completed the Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Upgrade #2 (CUP2) project, part of a multi-year plan to refresh the AEP’s technology and enhance the system’s ability to protect data and infrastructure from internal and external cyber threats, as well as improve its overall sustainability and operability. CUP2 is now fully operational and managing the current GPS constellation.
Lockheed Martin has a long history of supporting ground systems, providing operations, sustainment and logistics support for nearly 60 Department of Defense satellites, including GPS, often allowing them to double their on-orbit operational design life.
Lockheed Martin also is under contract to develop and build the Air Force’s first ten GPS III satellites, which will deliver three times better accuracy, provide up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities and extend spacecraft life to 15 years, 25 percent longer than the newest GPS satellites on-orbit today. GPS III’s new L1C civil signal also will make it the first GPS satellite to be interoperable with other international global navigation satellite systems.
Lockheed Martin GFP Ground Control Info