The troubled OCX ground system to allow users access to the jam-resistant M-Code GPS signal will go into operational tests by the end of the year, and the Space Force also has shaken up its effort to field M-Code radios and receivers, said Cordell DeLaPena, who heads those programs for Space Systems Command.
By Theresa HitchensWhat weapons and engines will let loyal wingmen drones hit their potential?
In the fourth video in our CCA series, Breaking Defense looks in the details for the future fleet. For the full CCA video series click here.
The four companies chosen for the GPS augmentation program are Astranis, Axient, L3 Harris, and Sierra Space.
By Theresa Hitchens
To make matters worse, the Defense Department is now facing down a possible shortage of microchips and processor cards to allow ground vehicles, ships and aircraft to access GPS at all, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.
By Theresa Hitchens SDA Director Derek Tournear said next year his organization will begin launching the Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites for regional communications, which also will carry a “navigation message” embedded in their venerable Link 16 data links.
By Theresa Hitchens
“Big software developments fail,” said Air Force space acquisition czar Frank Calvelli. “You have to go to smaller systems.”
By Theresa Hitchens
The Space Force has set contradictory requirements for the number of M-code capable GPS satellites, the Government Accountability Office found.
By Theresa Hitchens
If contractors are put on the Contractor Responsibility Watch List for failure to meet cost and schedule performance goals, the Space Force has “the ability at that point not to award them any new contracts.”
By Theresa Hitchens
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“These albatrosses [have been] dragging the department down for decades. This is the year we are going to get these programs delivered,” said Frank Calvelli, space acquisition head.
By Theresa Hitchens
“SDA is considering signals different to GPS, but offered within the same frequency bands. If SDA’s military PNT service is located within the existing GPS frequency bands, it will minimize integration cost of new antenna systems on terrestrial weapon systems,” explained Jennifer Elzea, SDA spokesperson.
By Theresa Hitchens GAO found 11 individual programs spread across OSD and the military services, as well as separate answers for the Pentagon’s “open systems approach.”
By Theresa Hitchens
Some services have turned to commercial solutions for receivers as delays mount, report says.
By Theresa Hitchens
Asked by Breaking Defense when a final product might be available, SWAC official David Voss quipped, “Not fast enough from what we’ve been told.”
By Theresa Hitchens
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By Barry Rosenberg “OCX and the user equipment piece do not come online until the third quarter of 2023; that is when we would expect to have our initial operational capability for the GPS enterprise across across all segments: space, ground and user equipment,” said Space and Missile Command’s Col. Ed Byrne.
By Theresa Hitchens
