On May 22, Bethesda, MD-based Lockheed Martin delivered the GPS III Contingency Operations (COps) software upgrade to the U.S. Air Force’s current GPS ground control system. The upgrade will enable the Air Force to start commanding the new, next-generation GPS III satellites now coming off the production line and beginning to launch, the company announced June 11.
And the new GPS III satellites are coming. The first GPS III satellite launched in December 2018; the second GPS III shipped to Cape Canaveral in March for a July launch; and the Air Force, on May 17, declared the third new GPS III “Available for Launch” next.
The challenge
was modernizing the current ground system – formally known as the GPS
Architecture Evolution Plan Operational Control System (AEP OCS) — to fly the
legacy constellation, as well as the new, modern GPS III satellites, until the
next generation Operational Control System (OCX) Block 1, still in development,
is delivered.
To address
this, in 2016, the Air Force contracted Lockheed Martin to develop the GPS III
COps program. Currently, the AEP OCS controls 31 GPS IIA, IIR, IIR-M and IIF
satellites launched between 1993-2016. With the AEP OCS’ new GPS III COps
upgrade, the Air Force will be able to command and control both the legacy
satellites, as well the more powerful GPS III satellites.
“Positioning,
Navigation and Timing is a critical mission for our nation and COps will allow
the Air Force to gain early access to its new GPS III satellites,” said
Johnathon Caldwell, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for Navigation Systems.
“We just finished Final Qualification Testing and delivery on COps, and it
will be integrated and installed on the AEP OCS over the summer. We look
forward to the Air Force ‘flying’ a GPS constellation on the COps OCS which
includes the new GPS III satellites, later this year.”
Meanwhile, the
first GPS III space vehicle (GPS III SV01), launched in December 2018, is
finishing up pre-operational on-orbit check-out. It continues to be controlled
by OCX Block 0 software installed at Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Launch and
Checkout Center at the company’s Denver facility. GPS III SV01 is expected to
be “handed over” to the COps OCS later this year after the legacy
constellation is moved over to the updated AEP OCS.
Lockheed Martin has sustained the AEP OCS since 2013. In November 2018, the company completed the AEP 7.5 upgrade — the largest architectural change in the systems history — replacing significant code, hardware and software to improve the system’s cybersecurity capabilities and positioning the Air Force to better operate in contested, degraded and operationally limited environments.
Source: Lockheed Martin
By 
