The US Air Force’s Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation has a new fully operational upgraded ground control system, Lockheed Martin announced on 1 December.
The upgrade, known as the Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Upgrade #2 (CUP2) project – is part of a multi-year plan to refresh the GPS system’s operational command and control segment.
The new technology became fully operational in mid-October, and began managing the 31 GPS IIR, IIR-M and IIF satellites that make up the GPS constellation.
The upgrade included the installation of modern commercial hardware and a major software upgrade that enhances the system’s ability to protect data and infrastructure from cyber threats, as well as improve its overall sustainability and operability.
The air force awarded Lockheed Martin the CUP2 project in November 2013. The system is now fully deployed into the Architecture Evolution Plan’s GPS Master Control Station and Alternate Master Control Station.
As part of Contingency Operations (COps) Lockheed Martin has also demonstrated a preliminary design to build off CUP2 and further upgrade the AEP to support next generation GPS III satellites as they perform their positioning, navigation and timing mission. COps is a temporary gap filler prior to the entire GPS constellation’s transition onto the next-generation Operational Control System Block 1, which is currently in development.
The airborne three-domain, the two ground-based and the ¼ ATR OpenVPX-based cross-domain systems were engineered to provide real-time security across multi-domain operations.
DARPA’s Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme was set up to develop an autonomous tactical network and enable critical data flow in contested environments.
Why space is an essential part of modern military capabilities
Defence-secure mixed reality headsets can save hours, or even weeks, of travel time to fix defunct equipment or get subject experts effectively “on-site” where they are needed.
The Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare (JCREW) counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) and Drone Restricted Access Using Known Electromagnetic Warfare (DRAKE) counter-UAS (CUAS) systems are mounted and dismounted RF jammers.
Adarga’s Vantage information analysis tool is in service with the UK MoD and individual UK forces. It builds on the company’s Knowledge Platform which processes, organises and analyses open source material, as well as information held by the user’s military, security and intelligence services.
Connect with us on socials
