Raytheon has completed preliminary design review for the Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX), an important milestone in determining the program's development approach, cost estimates and delivery schedule.

The review, which was conducted by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's (SMC) GPS Directorate, assessed the architectural and technical maturity of the program design.

"Successful completion of the PDR is a significant milestone validating our design and confirming the Raytheon-led team's proven capabilities and commitment to delivering GPS OCX Block 1 on time and on budget," said Lynn Dugle, president of Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems.

"Our successful PDR results demonstrate that the program's design maturity meets the MIL-STD-1521B standard and will allow the team to proceed with the completion of the next phase of development in preparation for GPS III launch in 2014," said Robert Canty, vice president and GPS OCX program manager for Raytheon's Intelligence and Information Systems business.

GPS OCX is the next generation operational gateway service designed to provide secure, accurate and reliable navigation and timing information to effectively support military, commercial and civil users.

GPS OCX will be the service integrator between ground, space and user segments to enhance mission command and control, and situational awareness capabilities, while seamlessly supporting billions of users around the world.

"By acting as a service bridge between the space and user segments, GPS OCX will enable an innovative, user-centric system, allowing users to experience the benefits of advanced technologies aboard satellites already in orbit and those yet to be built," Canty added.

"The OCX segment will increase system capacity and support the new GPS III satellites - which the current GPS control segment cannot - and is scalable to support future growth."

The OCX segment updates GPS command and control (C2) and mission management capabilities, transforming the focus of GPS operations from satellite C2, to user-oriented, effects-based operations.

In addition, GPS OCX will facilitate additional civil signals (L1C, L2C and L5) and new signal structures (M-Code) to provide navigation integrity, improved accuracy and increased availability.