Jane Edwards
Raytheon has begun to move the site-specific acceptance and qualification testing phase of the launch-and-checkout platform for the U.S. Air Force’s GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System from the company’s factory to Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado.
The company said Wednesday the move came after the LCS system reached a score of 97.7 percent in a recent test.
LCS is a component of GPS OCX and is designed to help the service branch manage the launch and early-orbit checkout operations of GPS III satellites.
The activities to be performed at Schriever AFB include verification and qualification of LCS’ external interfaces, configuration audits, cybersecurity checks and evaluation of the OCX hardware’s performance.
Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon’s intelligence, information and services business segment and an inductee into Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 for 2017, said the achievement sought to validate the company’s efforts to deliver an updated GPS platform for users worldwide.
The Air Force’s space and missile systems center awarded Raytheon a contract to develop the GPS OCX system as part of the GPS Modernization Program that aims to provide updated positioning, navigation and timing functionalities for U.S. civilian and military users.
The LCS testing transition came a month after the company completed a systems engineering milestone for GPS OCX’s final software iteration.
