Resilient GPS (R-GPS), an experimental plan to add a proliferated layer of small navigation satellites on top of the core GPS constellation, has been terminated, according to reporting by SpaceNews. Early design work from multiple contractors will be used to inform future architecture decisions, but no on-orbit demonstrations are moving forward.
According to SpaceNews, an SSC spokesperson said the initial phase of R-GPS has been completed and will be used to inform future decisions about the GPS architecture. Funding for the next phase did not make it into the fiscal year 2026 budget due to higher priorities within the Department of the Air Force.
What R-GPS was supposed to do
R-GPS was conceived as a proliferated layer of small satellites transmitting a core set of GPS signals to increase resilience for both military and civil users. Instead of replacing the existing GPS constellation, it would have added dozens of cheaper, shorter-life satellites designed for faster refresh and more flexible deployment.
As Inside GNSS reported in March 2025, the Space Force estimated the effort at roughly $1 billion over five years to field up to 20 small satellites, with the goal of making the overall architecture harder to jam or disrupt.
In 2024, Space Systems Command used new “Quick Start” authority to move R-GPS from concept to contracts unusually fast. Within about six months, SSC secured approval to begin the project, ran an industry day, released a solicitation and awarded initial agreements.
Those Phase 0 awards went to Astranis, Axient, L3Harris and Sierra Space, who were tasked to produce design concepts and early prototypes for R-GPS satellites.
Budget headwinds and congressional skepticism
Even as R-GPS moved quickly through its early contracting steps, the program ran into skepticism on Capitol Hill. House appropriators questioned whether adding more GPS satellites—rather than pursuing alternative or complementary PNT concepts—was the best way to address jamming and spoofing threats. They also objected to aspects of the funding strategy and to the fact that initial R-GPS concepts did not include the military’s jam-resistant M-code signal.
Those concerns translated into constrained funding. Requested realignments for R-GPS in the FY25 budget were pared back, and, per the SSC statement reported by SpaceNews, money for what would have been Phase 1 of the program does not appear in the FY26 request.
The net result is that R-GPS will not proceed to on-orbit demonstrations, even though design work and signal-generation tests were already underway at some contractors.
R-GPS in the larger GPS modernization picture
The termination of R-GPS does not change the core GPS modernization programs that Space Force continues to emphasize: GPS III and GPS IIIF satellites, the Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX), and upgraded user equipment. Recent launches of GPS III satellites and Space Force’s 2025 acceptance of a modernized GPS operating system are part of that mainline effort to harden the constellation and bring new signals online.
At the same time, broader concern about GPS vulnerability continues to grow across the national security community and in civil infrastructure. Recent analyses have highlighted how jamming and spoofing are becoming routine in several regions and how dependent aviation, finance, and other sectors remain on a relatively fragile space-based signal.
