The Pentagon has canceled a floor management system for the US navy’s GPS satellite tv for pc navigation community after this system’s enduring issues “proved insurmountable,” the US House Drive introduced in a press launch Monday.
The World Positioning System Subsequent-Era Operational Management System, recognized by the acronym OCX, was formally canceled by Michael Duffey, the Pentagon’s protection acquisition government, on Friday, April 17, the House Drive stated.
The choice to terminate the OCX program ends a 16-year, multibillion-dollar effort to design, take a look at, and ship a command and management system for the navy’s constellation of GPS navigation satellites. This system consisted of software program to deal with new indicators from the newest technology of GPS satellites, GPS III, which began launching in 2018, together with two grasp management stations and modifications to floor monitoring stations around the globe.
The Pentagon awarded the OCX contract to Raytheon, now often called RTX Company, in 2010, with a timetable for completion in 2016 at a price of $3.7 billion. Finances projections to complete this system grew to almost $8 billion, almost as a lot as the price of a whole fleet of some 30 new GPS satellites.
The schedule for OCX prolonged out a decade longer than anticipated. RTX lastly delivered the management system to the House Drive final yr, however additional assessments revealed it was nonetheless not prepared for GPS operations. Ars reported on the long-running points with OCX final month.
“We found issues”
“Regrettably, intensive system points arose in the course of the built-in testing of OCX with the broader GPS enterprise,” stated Col. Stephen Hobbs, commander of the House Drive’s Mission Delta 31, which operates the GPS constellation. “Regardless of repeated collaborative approaches by the whole authorities and contractor staff, the challenges of onboarding the system in an operationally related timeline proved insurmountable.
“We found issues throughout a broad vary of functionality areas that will put present GPS navy and civilian capabilities in danger,” Hobbs stated in an announcement.
“RTX is conscious of the US Authorities determination concerning the GPS OCX program,” an RTX spokesperson stated in an announcement. “Raytheon delivered the system in 2025 and has continued to help the US House Drive in post-delivery actions. We stay dedicated to supporting our clients and can work intently with the federal government on the following steps.”
