GPS IIIF

Abstract

In FY2021, PE 1203269F, GPS III Follow-On (GPS IIIF) efforts were transferred to Appropriation 3620, Research, Development, Test & Evaluation, Space Force, PE 1203269SF GPS III Follow-On (GPS IIIF) from Appropriation 3600, Budget Activity 5 due to the creation of a new Appropriation for Space Force. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based navigation system that fills validated Joint Service requirements for worldwide, accurate, common grid three-dimensional positioning/navigation for military aircraft, ships, and ground personnel. The consistent accuracy, unaffected by location or weather and available in real time, significantly improves effectiveness of reconnaissance, weapons delivery, mine countermeasures and rapid deployment for all services. GPS must comply with Title 10 United States Code (USC) Sec. 2281, which requires that the Secretary of Defense ensures the continued sustainment and operation of GPS for military and civilian purposes, and 51 USC Sec. 50112, which requires that GPS complies with certain standards and facilitates international cooperation. The system is composed of three segments: User Equipment (funded under Program Element (PE) 1203164F), Space (funded under PE 1203265F, 1203165F, and 1203269F), and a Control Network (funded under PE 1206423F and 1203165F). The satellites broadcast high-accuracy data using precisely synchronized signals that are received and processed by user equipment installed in military platforms. The user equipment computes the platform position and velocity and provides steering vectors to target locations or navigation waypoints. The control segment provides daily updates to the navigation messages broadcast from the satellites to maintain system precision in three dimensions to 16 meters (spherical error probable) worldwide. Additionally, GPS supports the United States Nuclear Detonation (NUDET) Detection System (USNDS) mission and provides strategic and tactical support to the following Department of Defense (DoD) missions: Joint Operations by providing capabilities for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT); Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I); Special Operations; Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT); Defense-Wide Mission Support (DWMS); Air Mobility; and Space Launch Orbital Support. GPS IIIF delivers GPS III satellites beyond the first ten Space Vehicles (SVs) being delivered by the GPS III program (funded in PE 1203265F GPS III Space Segment). The GPS IIIF satellites maintain the same capabilities as the GPS III satellites, but also deliver significant enhancements to include: backward compatibility, unified S-Band (USB) interface compliance, integration of hosted payloads including a redesigned USNDS payload, Laser Retro-reflector Arrays (LRAs), Search and Rescue/GPS (SAR/GPS) and Energetic Charged Particles (ECP) sensor, and Regional Military Protection (RMP) capabilities that provide the ability to deliver high-power regional Military Code (M-Code) signals in specific areas of intended effect. Implementation of RMP into the GPS Enterprise requires integration with the ground and user segments, executed by the GPS Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX), along with the Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) programs, respectively. The SAR/GPS payload provided by Canada fills a validated National Search and Rescue Committee requirement to provide enduring, space-based distress alerting capability to detect, locate, and relay distress alerts to fulfill its responsibilities under international agreements for Search and Rescue. LRA, built by the Naval Research Lab (NRL), is a passive reflector that improves accuracy and provides better ephemeris data. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) funds the integration costs of the LRA. This PE funds the Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) of GPS IIIF SVs 11-12 (to include Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) support efforts). This program includes risk-reducing simulators and systems engineering associated with delivering the new capabilities required of GPS IIIF satellites. Space acquisition must respond with speed and agility to emerging adversary threats. Space & Missile Systems Center (SMC) is transforming the organization and implementation of space acquisition to an enterprise approach, maximizing innovation and resiliency, leveraging international, commercial, and mission partnerships, and managing program/project priorities according to an integrated unclassified/classified enterprise space architecture. Expanding the appropriate acquisition authorities and contract mechanisms to deliver capability sooner, SMC will strategically execute experimentation, prototyping, risk reduction, and other efforts to develop new or repurpose capabilities. This PE may include necessary civilian pay expenses required to manage, execute, and deliver GPS IIIF Space Segment weapon system capability. The use of such program funds would be in addition to the civilian pay expenses budgeted in PEs 1206392F and 1206398F. This program is in Budget Activity 5, System Development and Demonstration (SDD) because it has passed Milestone B approval and is conducting engineering and manufacturing development tasks aimed at meeting validated requirements prior to full rate production.

Document Details

• Document Type: Project
• Publication Date: Oct 01, 2021
• Source ID: 653170_1203269F_5_3600_PB_2021

Tags

Readers

• Aerospace Engineering.
• Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Technology.

Technology Areas

• Directed Energy
• Fully Networked C3
• Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control
• Space
• Space - Satellites