The Pentagon has actually canceled a ground control system for the United States armed force’s GPS satellite navigation network after the program’s long-lasting issues “showed overwhelming,” the United States Space Force revealed in a news release Monday.

The Global Positioning System Next-Generation Operational Control System, understood by the acronym OCX, was formally canceled by Michael Duffey, the Pentagon’s defense acquisition executive, on Friday, April 17, the Space Force stated.

The choice to end the OCX program ends a 16-year, multibillion-dollar effort to style, test, and provide a command and control system for the armed force’s constellation of GPS navigation satellites. The program included software application to manage brand-new signals from the most recent generation of GPS satellites, GPS III, which began releasing in 2018, in addition to 2 master control stations and adjustments to ground tracking stations all over the world.

The Pentagon granted the OCX agreement to Raytheon, now called RTX Corporation, in 2010, with a schedule for conclusion in 2016 at an expense of $3.7 billion. Budget plan forecasts to complete the program grew to almost $8 billion, almost as much as the expense of a whole fleet of some 30 brand-new GPS satellites.

The schedule for OCX extended out a years longer than expected. RTX lastly provided the control system to the Space Force in 2015, however even more tests exposed it was still not prepared for GPS operations. Ars reported on the long-running concerns with OCX last month.

“We found issues”

“Regrettably, comprehensive system problems emerged throughout the incorporated screening of OCX with the wider GPS business,” stated Col. Stephen Hobbs, leader of the Space Force’s Mission Delta 31, which runs the GPS constellation. “Despite duplicated collective methods by the whole federal government and professional group, the difficulties of onboarding the system in an operationally appropriate timeline showed overwhelming.

“We found issues throughout a broad series of ability locations that would put existing GPS military and civilian abilities at danger,” Hobbs stated in a declaration.

“RTX understands the United States Government choice relating to the GPS OCX program,” an RTX representative stated in a declaration. “Raytheon provided the system in 2025 and has actually continued to support the United States Space Force in post-delivery activities. We stay dedicated to supporting our consumers and will work carefully with the federal government on the next actions.”