Harris Corporation has delivered the first of 34 receivers to support the GPS Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX). The receiver was shipped to Raytheon Company, the prime contractor, in Aurora, Colorado, after it passed an electromagnetic interference test, Harris said.
Harris Corporation has delivered the first of 34 receivers to support the GPS Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX). The receiver was shipped to Raytheon Company, the prime contractor, in Aurora, Colorado, after it passed an electromagnetic interference test, Harris said.
The receivers work with signals sent by the current GPS satellite constellation and from future GPS III transmissions — 13 military and civilian signals in all, the company said. OCX, which will be able to receive and decrypt GPS III military and civil signals, replaces the existing ground control system.
While the first Harris receiver will be shipped to Colorado, other units will be installed in sites worldwide, the company said.
In addition to the receivers, Harris has delivered 14 ground encryptors that will help protect GPS from cyber attacks, the company said. As part of OCX, new Harris software will provide navigation data to GPS satellites for monitoring the constellation’s position and time.
The Harris announcements follow a U.S. Air Force official’s comment that OCX’ funding shortfall will not halt work on the ground system. However, OCX funding should last until mid-October, said Col. Steve Whitney, director of the GPS Directorate at the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee (CGSIC) meeting in Portland, Oregon, earlier this month.
The mid-October funding lapse is about the same time Defense Secretary Ashton Carter must decide whether or not to continue with sort of revised version of the OCX program, or allow the development effort to be cancelled.
Increased OCX program personnel costs have eroded the fiscal year 2016 budget and were poised to force managers to stop work on September 15. The Pentagon requested Congress to allow $39 million to be reprogrammed to bridge the gap but lawmakers left for the summer recess without approving the change.
