AURORA, Colo.,
April 12, 2016
/PRNewswire/ -- On March
4, Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) successfully passed the first formal
qualification test milestone for the U.S. Air Force's Global
Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System.
Known simply as GPS OCX, this new system offers significant
improvements to the GPS on which the U.S. military and millions of
civilians rely, including enhanced availability, accuracy, and
security.
The event was the Configuration Item Qualification Test,
or CIQT, milestone for the Launch and Checkout System, or LCS. The
system provides launch and early orbit checkout capabilities for
the modernized GPS III satellites and implements 77
percent of the cybersecurity capabilities for the overall OCX
program. The testing was successfully conducted in a representative
operational environment with a government-provided GPS III
satellite simulator.
"The completion of this test milestone validates the
maturity of the OCX launch and checkout system," said Bill Sullivan, GPS OCX program director for
Raytheon. "As a result of strong collaboration with the Air Force,
we were able to demonstrate the system's performance and increase
confidence in the program's path ahead."
The LCS CIQT Run-for-Record was completed more than one
month ahead of the plan established in mid-2015, clearing the way
for LCS to proceed toward the Factory Qualification Test, the next
major qualification event. The FQT test will be at the
integrated system level and will take place this summer.
When completed, the U.S. Air Force-led GPS Modernization
Program will yield new positioning, navigation, and timing
capabilities for both the U.S. military and civilian users across
the globe. GPS OCX is being developed by Raytheon under contract to
the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, which is
replacing the current GPS operational control system. The OCX
Launch and Checkout System provides an early delivery of a large
subset of the overall OCX capability, and will support the GPS III
satellite launches.
About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2015 sales of $23 billion and 61,000 employees, is a technology
and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and
cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 94
years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission
systems integration, C5I™ products
and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers
in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in
Waltham, Mass. Visit us at
www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter
@Raytheon.
Media
Contacts
Raytheon
Michelle
Lammers
+1.720.858.5777
iispr@raytheon.com
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SOURCE Raytheon Company