[Satellite Today – 5-20-08] Northrop Grumman Corp. completed the system requirements review for the U.S. Air Force next-generation GPS (GPS) Control Segment (OCX), the company announced May 19.
    In November, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon received contracts to continue work on their proposed OCX systems, which include satellite command and control, mission planning, constellation management, monitoring stations and ground antennas for the planned GPS 3 satellites.
    The new control segment will have four development phases. The first phase is for the operation of the current GPS Block 2 satellites. Subsequent OCX phases will provide additional net-centric and navigation warfare capabilities in addition to flying the next-generation GPS Block 3 satellites.
The Pentagon awarded a contract May 16 to Lockheed Martin to develop the GPS 3 space segment.