Bill Sullivan: Raytheon Eyes 2019 Completion for GPS OCX Software Dev’t

Bill Sullivan, a vice president and OCX program manager at Raytheon, has said the company expects software development work on a ground-based operational control system for the U.S. Air Force’s GPS III satellites to conclude in 2019, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.

Sullivan said the Raytheon-built OCX system, which is slated for completion in June 2021, adopts “layered security” and is designed to “integrate new types of security controls as threats evolve.”

He noted that the company completed the qualification test for OCX’s monitoring station receivers in the summer of this year, a development which Sullivan said could pave the way for the deployment of such receivers in 2019.

The OCX Block O launch-and-checkout system, which was handed to the service in September 2017, will “support readiness activities for the upcoming GPS 3 launch in December and for early orbit operations,” Sullivan told the publication.