The Space Force has selected four contractors to work on concepts for a batch of new, small GPS satellites meant to proliferate the critical position, navigation, and timing constellation.
Space Systems Command announced the four firms selected for the Resilient GPS program Sept. 24: Astranis, Axient, L3Harris, and Sierra Space.
L3Harris is the lone prime contractor in the bunch, but Sierra Space has also received contracts from the Space Development Agency in the past. Astranis and Axient, by contrast, are relative newcomers. Just a few days prior to the R-GPS announcement, Astranis received a strategic funding increase from Space Systems Command and U.S. Space Command to add military Ka-band frequency compatibility to their planned Omega satellites that will go in geosynchronous orbit.
“A mix of traditional and non-traditional defense space companies were selected for this initial award based on their innovative and integrated concepts,” according to an SSC release.
The first iteration of Resilient GPS, dubbed “Lite Evolving Augmented Proliferation One,” will consist of eight satellites, with the goal of launching as soon as 2028. At some point, the Space Force will trim the list of contractors with a final design review and contracts to build prototypes, followed by a final contract award for “one or more vendors,” per SSC.
Resilient GPS is one of the two “Quick Start” programs the Department of the Air Force selected to start work on prior to getting approval from Congress, an authority for which Secretary Frank Kendall made a concerted push last year.
“Thanks to the Quick Start authority that was approved by Congress, we were able to field and award contracts for these low-cost satellites in less than six months,” Kendall said in a statement. “This authority allows us to move faster and start new Space Force and Air Force programs, and we appreciate Congress providing us this authority.”
The Space Force is pushing an aggressive timeline. If the launch date of 2028 holds, the satellites would go from concept to orbit in four years—by comparison, the contract for the latest batch of GPS III satellites was awarded to Lockheed Martin in 2008, and the first bird went up in 2018, with still more launches planned into 2026.
The R-GPS satellites are expected to be smaller than the main fleet of GPS satellites, the latest iterations of which measure 8 x 5 x 11 feet and weigh more than 4,000 pounds each.
“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 stated in its release. “The decision to pursue R-GPS was based upon outcomes of recent resilience studies recommending an additional proliferated fleet of small GPS satellites.”
Further batches of R-GPS are expected to follow on this first eight-satellite group, with improved capabilities, the command noted. All told, service officials have described a goal of around 20 R-GPS satellites.
Over the past several decades, GPS has become an essential part of everyday life for many Americans and a regular example leaders turn to when explaining to the public what the Space Force does.
At the same time, officials and experts have grown concerned that both the military and the public have grown over-reliant on GPS, especially as Russia has turned to jamming GPS signals during its invasion of Ukraine.
“If we lose GPS in this nation, we can’t get crops out of the field, we can’t get goods off the shelf or off the boat, we can’t get ambulances to your house, and you can’t travel,” Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael A. Guetlein warned at the Defense News Conference earlier this month, noting that even a 15-minute disruption could cause a $1 billion hit to the economy.
“There is an enormous amount of attention from the White House on position, navigation and timing (PNT) and how to shore up those signals, looking at alternative capabilities,” Guetlein said. “Is there another way we could be doing this, that’s more resilient, more survival against the threat? I would say we could be doing more in this area.”
However, not all are convinced Resilient GPS is the right answer. In its version of the 2025 budget released in June, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense turned down the service’s request to reprogram $77 million for Resilient GPS. The panel cited unclear benefits, questioning whether the additional satellites would better protect against GPS jamming compared to other methods, and noted the program for focusing solely on satellites while overlooking the need for the M-code equipment—an encrypted GPS signal essential for jamming resistance.
Charles Galbreath, senior resident fellow at Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, echoed the concern that the new satellites would not solve the question of jamming.
“Whatever solution the Space Force pursues, it must address the variety of the most likely and most dangerous threats, such as jamming, cyber and potential threats to the on-orbit architecture,” he previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine.