The U.S. Space Force is preparing a new effort to modernize the ground command-and-control system for the Global Positioning System, less than six months after the Pentagon canceled the troubled Next Generation Operational Control System, or OCX. A September 2 notice from the Space Enterprise Consortium marked “Coming” provides the clearest indication that the service intends to restart acquisition work on the infrastructure used to operate the GPS constellation.
The notice identifies GPS ground command-and-control modernization as the focus but does not yet provide requirements, contract value, competition dates or a deployment schedule. Those details will determine whether the effort becomes a full successor to OCX or a more modular program built around incremental upgrades to the operational ground system.
The Defense Acquisition Executive canceled OCX on April 17 after integrated testing uncovered extensive problems across multiple capability areas. Space Force officials concluded that bringing the system into operational service on a militarily relevant schedule had become impractical and could place existing military and civilian GPS capabilities at risk.
RTX’s Raytheon business had developed OCX for approximately 16 years. The Space Force contractually accepted the system in July 2025 following factory qualification testing, but acceptance did not mean that it was ready to assume operational control of the constellation. Problems emerged when OCX was integrated with the wider GPS enterprise, including operational infrastructure, external interfaces and other systems required to sustain positioning, navigation and timing services.
By January 2026, OCX-related spending had reached approximately $6.27 billion, including contractor development and government testing costs. The program had originally been intended to replace the existing Architecture Evolution Plan, or AEP, ground system and the separate Launch, Anomaly and Disposal Operations capability.
OCX was designed to command legacy and modernized GPS satellites, manage military and civilian navigation signals and provide stronger cybersecurity and resilience. It was also central to operating newer capabilities aboard GPS III and GPS IIIF spacecraft, including the encrypted M-code military signal. Its cancellation left the Space Force needing another route to deliver those functions without disrupting an operational service used worldwide.
Incremental Upgrades Bridge the Gap
The Space Force has continued investing in the existing GPS ground architecture while it determines the shape of the longer-term replacement effort. On September 10, Lockheed Martin disclosed two task orders worth a combined $114 million for GPS ground-segment modernization.
A $96 million task order covers upgrades to the GPS IIIF Contingency Operations System. That work is intended to give the current ground system the ability to control GPS IIIF navigation payloads, providing a path to operate the next satellite generation without waiting for an entirely new control architecture.
A second task order, valued at $17.5 million, begins the first phase of an x86 technology refresh for the AEP system. Lockheed Martin described the work as the start of a three-phase modernization of ground hardware and software using a modular architecture intended to improve reliability and resilience.
Those awards follow a separate contract announced in April, worth up to $105 million, for a Contingency Launch Operations System supporting GPS IIIF launch, early-orbit and disposal operations. Together, the projects divide some of the functions once intended for OCX among targeted upgrades to systems that already support GPS operations.
The urgency is increasing as the space segment advances. GPS III SV10, the final GPS III satellite, launched from Cape Canaveral on April 21. Lockheed Martin is now manufacturing GPS IIIF spacecraft, which will add capabilities including improved regional military protection, enhanced anti-jamming performance and greater operational flexibility. The ground segment must be able to command those satellites and activate their payload capabilities as they enter service.
A New Acquisition Test After OCX
Using the Space Enterprise Consortium could allow the Space Force to pursue prototypes and modular technologies through other transaction agreements, potentially shortening acquisition cycles and bringing in suppliers outside the traditional defense contracting base. The consortium route alone, however, does not resolve the integration challenge that ultimately defeated OCX.
GPS ground control is unusually difficult because upgrades must be introduced without interrupting continuous positioning, navigation and timing services. New software must communicate with several generations of satellites, process both military and civilian signals, meet demanding cybersecurity requirements and interface with monitoring stations and operational systems distributed across the GPS control network.
The central issue is therefore not whether the Space Force can begin another procurement, but whether it can define a manageable architecture that avoids recreating OCX as a single, tightly coupled development program. Incremental upgrades reduce near-term operational risk, but they could also leave the service managing a growing collection of interim systems if the new program lacks a clear integration and transition plan.
The next milestone will be the release of formal acquisition documents explaining the new program’s scope, technical architecture, contracting model and relationship to the AEP and GPS IIIF contingency upgrades. Those details will show whether the Space Force has developed a durable replacement strategy or is beginning another attempt to solve the ground-segment bottleneck that has constrained GPS modernization for more than a decade.
