Pentagon awards Raytheon $45 million for GPS ground system as program future is reassessed

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon awarded RTX a $45.3 million contract modification to support U. S. Military GPS satellite ground operations, even as officials weigh scaling back the troubled Next Generation Operational Control System program known as OCX.

The contract comes amid indications the Defense Department does not plan to continue full development of OCX after years of delays and rising costs. Instead, officials are considering integrating portions of the Raytheon-developed software into the existing GPS ground system, known as the Architecture Evolution Plan, or AEP.

"We have a serious issue, and that serious issue is being addressed," Saltzman said April 1 at the Mitchell Institute's Spacepower Conference. "We're looking at the existing systems. We're looking at the future systems, how far do we go with it.