BAE Systems said on Jan. 31 that it has completed Critical Design Review (CDR) with the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command for the Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) Increment 2 Miniature Serial Interface (MSI) program.
Luke Bishop, BAE Systems’ director of navigation and sensor systems, said that CDR approval for BAE Systems’ MSI “is a major milestone that paves the way for smaller high-performance receivers on the battlefield.” BAE Systems developed MSI as part of a $247 million Space Force award to the company in 2020.
DoD’s MGUE Increment 2 effort to develop the Next Generation Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) and a smaller M-code card is expected to cost $1.4 billion.
L3Harris Technologies
[LHX], RTX [RTX] and BAE Systems have received funding under MGUE Increment 1 and have been developing cards for MGUE Increment 2 (Defense Daily, June 20, 2023).
Since the late 1990s, the Pentagon has been developing the GPS M-code to have a stronger signal and more advanced encryption to counter jamming and spoofing, and the first GPS M-code capable satellite went aloft in 2005. But GPS M-code initial operational capability may be years away due to delays in upgrading ground and user equipment for hundreds of vehicles, ships, and aircraft.
The GPS M-code ground segment, the RTX GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System (GPS OCX), has had delays in its previously expected delivery of April last year, due to schedule slips in incorporating new hardware and software, in part due to COVID-19 (Defense Daily, June 27, 2022).
“Operational testing for MGUE Increment 1 continued to slip since our previous report,” the Government Accountability Office said in its annual weapons assessment last June. “The MGUE Increment 1 program now plans to begin combined developmental and operational testing on the Air Force’s B-2 Spirit bomber platform in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024 and will end approximately one year later.”
“Operational testing on the Navy’s DDG platform (also known as the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers) is planned to begin in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 and is planned to end in December 2025,” the agency said. “Program officials said that the later date for DDG testing is driven by funding and test scheduling considerations that are outside MGUE’s control. As we previously reported, delays in the development of the aviation/maritime card led to delays in some receivers for this card.”
The Department of the Air Force has said it plans to reexamine its requirement for the 24 M-code capable Lockheed Martin [LMT] GPS satellites on orbit and whether DoD needs at least three more to meet accuracy mandates.
The first goal of MGUE Increment 2 is to build Next Generation ASIC, which “incorporates multi-Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) robustness, and reduces power consumption,” BAE Systems said on Jan. 31. “This capability will support military users and weapon systems in airborne, maritime, and ground domains. The second is to develop and qualify a small form-factor MSI GNSS receiver for use in applications requiring low size, weight, and power. This allows for easier integration into a wider range of platforms, including battery-powered dismounted applications. The program is scheduled for completion in 2025 and will then be deployed to the U.S. and its allies.”