GPS World, December 2017

improve positioning and timing accuracy For the military the directorate has been focused on bring Military Code M code into operations The M code signal features advanced anti jam anti spoof and encryption features that will ensure resilient and dependable PNT solutions for the United States and its allies The rollout of an operational M code capability involves all segments of the GPS enterprise and while it has been a long time in coming the GPS Directorate made big strides this year see 2017 in Review I will touch on the progress we are making in each of our development programs Resiliency in Space The GPS space segment is the next step towards a more resilient PNT architecture Our constel lation remains robust and healthy albeit aging with 31 operational satellites providing worldwide coverage at the time of this article The GPS III satellites will bring additional robustness with increased power and accuracy over previous generations of satellites We made big strides towards launching the first GPS III satellite in 2018 and just as importantly production is in full swing on the rest of the ten satellites I am incredibly proud of the entire government and contractor team that is meticulously acquiring assembling and testing these complex machines GPS IIIF Farther into the future the directorate is preparing for the GPS III follow on program The Air Force will be adding important new resiliency capabilities with added signal flexibility via a reprogrammable digital payload and increased anti jam support to theater with a Regional Military Protection capability Over the coming years as the follow on GPS III satellites join the constellation they will revolutionize GNSS with the full DECEMBER 2017 WWW GPSWORLD COM GPS WORLD 11 T his year saw the GPS enterprise take big strides towards completing major acquisition and development milestones and overcoming significant program challenges As we close out the year the GPS Directorate stands poised to launch the first GPS III satellite in 2018 The GPS III prime contractor Lockheed Martin successfully placed GPS III Space Vehicle SV 01 into storage in late February Following a comprehensive engineering review SV 01 was determined to be Available For Launch in September Road to Launch The GPS Directorate also kicked off its inaugural Road to Launch campaign this year and the satellite recently completed a final factory mission readiness test in November Just as importantly production is in full swing on the remaining nine satellites with the SV 02 Available For Launch declaration expected early in 2018 The GPS Directorate was also hard at work preparing the request for proposal RPF for a follow on production contract that will add up to 22 additional GPS III satellites As the U S Department of Defense DoD finalizes requirements for the program we stand ready to release the RFP by the end of the year OCX While the Next Generation Operational Control System OCX continued to be a focal point for the DoD the program has made progress in 2017 following a program restructuring OCX completed the first integrated live satellite launch rehearsal with GPS III in August A fitting capstone to the years achievement was the long awaited delivery in November of the initial version of OCX known as the Block 0 to support launch and checkout of GPS III satellites But while these are encouraging signs there is still a long road to delivery of the full suite of capabilities in 2022 The Contingency Operations COps program remained on track this year for delivery in 2019 to support interim GPS III operations The program completed two out of three major software builds this year The U S Air Force initiated a companion program M Code Early Use MCEU to enable limited M code operations MCEU is on target to complete its Preliminary Design Review in November 2017 MGUE Early this year our Military GPS User Equipment MGUE program achieved acquisition Milestone B allowing it to enter the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase Just as importantly MGUE successfully completed two major riskreduction events First the U S Army successfully demonstrated 81 mm mortar precision guided munitions integrated with MGUE receiver cards to complete the first ever M code guideto hit tests in March The Air Force then demonstrated a prototype MGUE navigation unit integrated into the B 2 bomber in four successful flight tests These tests are an important step towards anti jam anti spoof GPS capability ensuring secure robust protection for the United States and its allies So as we close this year I am encouraged by our recent successes but with a clear understanding of the many challenges ahead on the road to GPS modernization We remain fully committed to meeting our program commitments with transparency 2017 in Review BY Col Steven Whitney