Raytheon says it has completed the system requirements review for the Air Force’s next-generation Global Positioning System control segment known as OCX. This is the company’s first programmatic milestone for OCX and means that the Raytheon’s approach has satisfied the Air Force’s system engineering standard acceptance criteria and established a solid foundation for moving ahead with the project, the company said in a March 28 release. Raytheon is vying against Northrop Grumman to be the supplier of the OCX, which the Air Force plans to field early next decade to replace the Architecture Evolution Plan ground control system that went online last September. Both companies are under operating under 18-month, $160 million design and risk-reduction contracts awarded last November. OCX will work with current GPS Block II and future GPS Block III satellites.
An important U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS command and control plane was among the aircraft damaged in a March 27 Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine.