Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman delivers a keynote address at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference at National Harbor, Md. on Sept 17. Photo: Department of the Air Force Photo

Astranis, Axient, L3Harris Technologies, and Sierra Space are to submit design concepts for the Resilient Global Positioning System (R-GPS) to U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) to launch up to eight R-GPS satellites by 2028, the command said on Tuesday.

“Following this initial phase, a subset of the awardees will continue to a Final Design Review and build payload prototypes,” SSC said of the R-GPS Other Transaction Authority effort. “One or more vendors will then be selected to build the first satellite vehicles.”

R-GPS is part of a “Quick Start” initiative proposed by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to get initial, high priority Department of the Air Force efforts off the ground quickly.

“R-GPS provides resilience to military and civil GPS user communities by augmenting the GPS constellation with proliferated small satellites transmitting a core set of widely-utilized GPS signals,” SSC said. “The decision to pursue R-GPS was based upon outcomes of recent resilience studies recommending an additional proliferated fleet of small GPS satellites.”

Quick Start authority in Section 229 of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act allows the Air Force to appropriate up to $100 million for research and development for new efforts to satisfy urgent technology needs.

“Utilizing Quick Start, the R-GPS team successfully earned Deputy Secretary of Defense approval, conducted market research, hosted an industry day, released a solicitation, and awarded initial contracts in under six months, far faster than traditional space programs that sometimes require up to three years,” SSC said.

House appropriators’ fiscal 2025 defense bill denies Space Force’s request to realign $77 million for R-GPS.

“The committee has several concerns about the R–GPS plan and the use of this authority for this project,” House appropriators said in their report. “First, the R–GPS initiative purports to provide greater resilience by proliferating a constellation of about 20 small satellites transmitting core GPS signals.”

“While proliferation may provide some advantages, it is not clear how these additional satellites increase the resilience against the primary jamming threat to GPS, compared to alternative concepts for position, navigation, and timing systems being pursued elsewhere in the Department of Defense,” the report said. “Second, the initiative focuses solely on the space segment and does not address longstanding issues with the lack of M-code GPS user equipment, a critical link to enabling jam-resistant capabilities. Third, the initiative could have been considered prior to enactment of the fiscal year 2024 Defense Appropriations Act or submitted as part of the fiscal year.”

This story was first published by Defense Daily