Space Systems Command is resetting GPS ground control around a prototype contest, months after the Pentagon walked away from Raytheon’s $6.27B OCX program and 15 years of development.
A “coming soon” notice posted Sept. 4 through the Space Enterprise Consortium previews the competition for GPS Gen4 Ground, the command-and-control segment for the next-generation GPS architecture the service is defining. The effort will run through SpEC, the Other Transaction Authority consortium managed by NSTXL that Space Systems Command leans on for prototype development.
The notice describes a project to prototype critical components, software and hardware for a resilient command-and-control architecture founded on a Modular Open Systems Approach. The software framework would run on government hardware, cloud services or both. More automation and updated operator interfaces are meant to shrink the crew needed to operate the constellation, and the system would command future GPS satellites while still controlling the legacy fleet.
OCX became one of the Pentagon’s most troubled software acquisitions, and its cancellation this year cleared the way for a fresh start. No contract value, proposal deadline or expected award count has been disclosed; the Sept. 4 posting is an advance notice, with the formal prototype solicitation still to come.
GPS Gen4 is the generation after the Lockheed Martin-built GPS 3 and 3F spacecraft, whose first units are expected to launch later this decade. The service is weighing a larger number of smaller satellites, possibly spread across multiple orbits, and greater reliance on commercial technology. The fiscal 2027 budget request includes $115M for Gen4 and projects another $1.8B through fiscal 2031, with much of the early money aimed at the ground layer.
