Lockheed to continue upgrading GPS ground systems

Lockheed Martin has received the GPS Control Segment Sustainment II (GCS II) contract to continue to sustain and modernise the GPS satellite constellation’s ground control system through 2025, the company announced on 9 January.

This is a follow-on contract to the company’s current GCS contract awarded in 2013.

Under the contract, the company will continue to upgrade the GPS architecture evolution plan operational control segment (AEP OCS) that allows GPS’ legacy ground control system to support GPS III satellite on-orbit operations, developed under the GPS III Contingency Operations (COps) programme.

COps will enable the AEP OCS to support the positioning, navigation and timing missions of the air force’s new GPS III satellites, which began launching in 2018. GCS II will also sustain the operational M-code capability being deployed in 2020 that is in development under the M-code Early Use contract.  

The company will continue to manage the technical baselines for the OCS and GPS information network (GIN) and regularly procure, develop, fabricate, integrate, test and install software and hardware modifications into the GPS operational baseline. Focus areas will be performing a technical refresh of the GIN and increasing the resiliency of the OCS.