U.S. Air Force's NextGen GPS OCX completes first qualification test
NewsApril 14, 2016
AURORA, Colo. Raytheon engineers completed the Configuration Item Qualification Test (CIQT) of the U.S Air Force's Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX). The testing was conducted with a government-provided GPS III satellite simulator.
It is considered the first formal qualification test milestone for the Launch and Checkout System (LCS), officials say. The system provides launch and early orbit checkout capabilities for the GPS III satellites and implements 77 percent of the cybersecurity capabilities for the overall OCX program.
Raytheon is developing the GPS OCX under a contract with the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. The system will replace the current GPS operational control system. The OCX Launch and Checkout System provides an early delivery of a large subset of the overall OCX capability, and will support the GPS III satellite launches.
The text qualification is the Factory Qualification Test (FQT), which will be at the integrated system level taking place this summer.
Read more on GPS systems:
Securing military GPS from spoofing and jamming vulnerabilities
M-Code brings next-gen GPS to SWaP-constrained ground vehicles
U.S. Air Force's GPS IIF-12 satellite joins constellation to undergo on-orbit testing
