NEWTOWN, Pa., Dec. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon
Company [NYSE: RTN] and Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] successfully
completed the fourth of five planned launch and early orbit
exercises to demonstrate new automation capabilities, information
assurance and launch readiness of the world's most powerful and
accurate Global Positioning System (GPS), the U.S. Air Force's next
generation GPS III satellite and Operational Control System
(OCX).
Successful completion of Exercise 4, on Oct. 3, represents a key milestone demonstrating
the end-to-end capability to automatically transfer data between
Raytheon's OCX and Lockheed Martin's GPS III satellite. One
additional readiness exercise, five launch rehearsals and a mission
dress rehearsal are planned prior to launch of the first GPS III
satellite with OCX.
The exercise used the latest baseline of Raytheon's OCX Launch
Checkout System (LCS) software featuring integrated information
assurance functionality for the first time and the latest version
of Lockheed Martin's GPS III satellite simulator. Exercise 4
successfully demonstrated mission planning and scheduling
capabilities with the simulated Air Force Satellite Control Network
(AFSCN) for the first time, including a replan scenario that would
occur in the event of a launch slip.
The system also automatically generated antenna pointing angles
for the simulated AFSCN, which until now have been manually
generated. Exercise 4 expands on three previous exercises,
introducing maneuver planning and reconstruction capabilities, as
well as advanced planning and scheduling with AFSCN assets.
The automation of these capabilities will allow GPS operators to
spend their time optimizing system performance rather than focusing
on routine operations.
"As part of establishing the LCS Block 0 baseline, the
completion of Exercise 4 demonstrates the capability of OCX to
successfully support a GPS-III satellite launch in an information
assurance hardened environment," stated Matthew Gilligan, Raytheon vice president and
GPS OCX program manager. "Exercise 4 began the instantiation
of vital OCX automation capabilities that give operators their time
back in order to focus on mission critical activities, one of the
important elements of a modernized GPS."
"Launch Exercise 4 demonstrated the team's ability to complete
nearly 100 percent of the GPS III space vehicle 1 launch and early
orbit mission sequence," said Mark
Stewart, vice president for Lockheed Martin's Navigation
Systems mission area. "The findings the team made during this
robust launch exercise will help mature the processes, procedures,
and tools necessary to enter our rehearsal phase and ultimately the
launch and checkout mission."
GPS III satellites will deliver three times better accuracy,
provide up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities, and
include enhancements that extend spacecraft life to 15 years, 25
percent longer than the newest Block IIF satellites. GPS III will
be the first generation of GPS satellite with a new L1C civil
signal designed to make it interoperable with other international
global navigation satellite systems. The first GPS III satellite is
currently undergoing integration and testing, with final space
vehicle delivery planned for late 2015.
OCX is being developed in two blocks using a commercial best
practice iterative software development process, with seven
iterations in Block 1 and one iteration in Block 2. Exercise 4 was
conducted using the recently completed Iteration 1.5 software,
representing an early delivery of the final software baseline.
Exercise 5, scheduled for 2015, will include critical information
assurance features needed to support launch of the first GPS III
satellite.
The GPS III team is led by the Global Positioning Systems
Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.
Air Force Space Command's 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS),
based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, manages and operates the GPS
constellation for both civil and military users.
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda,
Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace
company that employs approximately 113,000 people worldwide and is
principally engaged in the research, design, development,
manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology
systems, products and services. The Corporation's net sales for
2013 were $45.4 billion.
About
Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2013 sales of $24
billion and 63,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and
innovation leader specializing in defense, security and civil
markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning
92 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission
systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing;
effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence
systems, as well as cyber security and a broad range of mission
support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit
us at www.raytheon.com and follow us on
Twitter @Raytheon.
Media Contacts
Raytheon
Jason B.
Kello
+1
571.250-1428
iispr@raytheon.com
Lockheed Martin
Chip
Eschenfelder
+ 1
303.977-8375
Chip.eschenfelder@lmco.com
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SOURCE Raytheon Company