Raytheon says it has completed the system requirements review for the Air Force’s next-generation Global Positioning System control segment known as OCX. This is the company’s first programmatic milestone for OCX and means that the Raytheon’s approach has satisfied the Air Force’s system engineering standard acceptance criteria and established a solid foundation for moving ahead with the project, the company said in a March 28 release. Raytheon is vying against Northrop Grumman to be the supplier of the OCX, which the Air Force plans to field early next decade to replace the Architecture Evolution Plan ground control system that went online last September. Both companies are under operating under 18-month, $160 million design and risk-reduction contracts awarded last November. OCX will work with current GPS Block II and future GPS Block III satellites.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.