WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is expected to terminate or sharply reduce work on a long-delayed GPS ground control program built by RTX, as officials grapple with persistent technical issues more than a decade into development.
The Next Generation Operational Control System, known as OCX, was intended to modernize command and control of the U.S. military’s Global Positioning System satellites. But as the program enters its 15th year, senior defense officials are considering alternatives that would scale back RTX’s role and instead fold parts of the software into an upgraded version of the current ground system.
People familiar with the deliberations said the company’s current contract option expires March 31 and is unlikely to be extended in full. Instead, the Space Force may seek to transition elements of the already delivered OCX software into the existing Architecture Evolution Plan, or AEP, a legacy ground system that has been incrementally modernized to keep pace with newer GPS satellites.
The deliberations come less than a year after the Space Force accepted an initial version of OCX, marking a milestone for a program that has become a case study in the Pentagon’s struggles with large-scale software procurements.
“The GPS OCX program is a large-scale, highly complex ground system modernization effort,” an RTX spokesperson said. “The U.S. Space Force accepted delivery of a mission-capable system in 2025 and assumed operational control at that time. RTX is working alongside the government to address any post-delivery concerns.”
The Space Force declined to comment on whether the contract would be extended. A service official told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the department is considering canceling the program due to testing setbacks that could lead to further delays.
Long-running program under scrutiny
The U.S. Air Force awarded the OCX contract to Raytheon in 2010, initially valued at about $1.5 billion and scheduled for delivery in 2018. Costs have since grown to at least $6 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office, with delivery slipping by more than seven years.
At a March 25 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee, Rep. Don Bacon (R., Neb.) called attention to OCX’s troubled history.
“We’re still struggling with it,” Bacon said. “Can you tell us what went wrong, or what are we learning from this?” he asked Thomas Ainsworth, the Space Force’s acting acquisition executive.
Ainsworth pointed to systemic issues spanning both government and contractor performance.
“There’s been problems in program management, problems with the contractor performance, problems in system engineering, both on government and on the contractor side, over a number of years,” Ainsworth said. “It’s a very stressing program. We are still considering how to move forward.”
In prepared testimony, Ainsworth said the program’s transition in 2025 from contractor-led to government-led testing exposed a broader set of deficiencies than previously identified. Testing with operational satellites, antennas and user equipment revealed “extensive system issues across all sub-systems, many of which have not been resolved,” he said.
Shift toward legacy system
Those findings have pushed the Space Force to consider relying more heavily on the AEP system, originally intended as a stopgap. The Air Force in 2016 contracted Lockheed Martin to upgrade AEP so it could operate newer GPS III satellites as OCX delays mounted.
Now, AEP has evolved into a viable long-term alternative. Officials are evaluating whether to “harvest” usable components of OCX and integrate them into the AEP baseline, rather than continue full-scale development of the new system.
The version of OCX delivered last year supports launch and early orbit operations for GPS III satellites but lacks full command-and-control capability. A planned transition — known as a constellation transfer event — was expected to begin in fiscal 2026.
Delays have had broader implications for military users. The Pentagon’s independent test office has warned that setbacks in OCX are slowing deployment of M-code, the jam-resistant military GPS signal.
“Continued delays to OCX put U.S. warfighters and allies at risk,” the office said in its annual report, noting that full M-code capability has yet to be fielded for operational use.
Further upgrades, known as OCX 3F, are required to support next-generation GPS IIIF satellites. Those capabilities are not expected to be ready until at least fiscal 2027, with operational acceptance slipping to 2028.
Contract decisions and next steps
Defense officials are now weighing narrower contract options with RTX, potentially limiting its role to near-term needs such as launch support for an upcoming GPS III mission and analysis of which OCX components could be reused.
Any such restructuring would require approval from the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, housed within the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, which serves as the milestone decision authority for programs of OCX’s scale.
A spokesperson for that office declined to comment on whether the contract would be extended.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink acknowledged the program’s long-running challenges at a March 17 conference.
“Like, 15 years ago, OCX was having challenges. And it continues to do so,” Meink said.
The Government Accountability Office is expected to issue an updated assessment of the program. “This has clearly been a beleaguered program,” said Jon Ludwigson, a GAO director overseeing defense acquisitions. “I think folks would have very much liked it to have been completed and called a win.”