Boeing Selects Team of Experienced, Innovative Industry Leaders To Pursue Global Positioning System III Architecture Study
A team of four global
information industry leaders has been selected by The Boeing Company
to pursue a Global Positioning System (GPS) III architecture study
that will help define the path for the future of navigation and timing, Boeing
announced today.
Boeing, a premier developer of navigation systems and an integrator of
large-scale systems, will lead the team comprised of Hughes Space and
Communications Company, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Lockheed Martin
Management & Data Systems (M&DS) and Raytheon Company.
“Defining the attributes of future precision navigation and timing systems
is a complex and challenging job that requires a vision of a future of
accelerating change,” said Carl O’Berry, vice president and general manager of
Government Information & Communications Systems (GI&CS), the business area
responsible for managing Boeing navigation programs activity.
“Boeing has assembled a team of innovative industry leaders who will
concentrate and leverage the most extensive understanding of user
requirements, GPS lessons learned, commercial initiatives and emerging
technologies to define innovative GPS III best-value architecture
recommendations,” O’Berry added.
The GPS III architecture study will assess mission needs and requirements
of the existing satellite-based navigation system, and will validate their
achievability by developing innovative architecture recommendations.
A
contract will be awarded in late October 2000 with work scheduled to begin in
November.
The program will evolve into the next-generation GPS satellite, ground
control and user equipment segments.
GPS III will provide future users with
unprecedented navigation and timing accuracy, system availability and enhanced
user services, particularly for civil users.
The Boeing GPS III team is poised to leverage its unsurpassed GPS domain
knowledge, along with a broad military, commercial and civil understanding and
technology initiatives, to develop a flexible solution that will satisfy
military and civil users for the next 30 years.
Hughes Space and Communications Company, a unit of Hughes Electronics
Corporation, is the world’s leading satellite manufacturer, producing
state-of-the-art space and communications systems for military, commercial and
scientific users.
The company has achieved an unparalleled record of more
than 1,000 years of in-orbit experience.
Current government programs include
the next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES),
the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS), and the Ultra High Frequency
Follow-On (UHF F/O) satellites, and participation on the Advanced Extremely
High Frequency National Team and the Milstar Team.
Hughes will have
responsibility for the space element.
CSC has more than 30 years of experience developing satellite ground
control systems and architectures for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and others.
The company is also one of the largest information engineering contractors for
the U.S. Government and is one of the world’s largest commercial outsourcing
and business process reengineering companies.
CSC, along with Boeing and
Lockheed Martin M&DS will support the ground element.
Lockheed Martin M&DS is an industry leader in technically advanced systems
engineering, systems integration, information technology, sensor processing,
communications systems and program management.
The company brings 20 years of
experience in the design, development and sustainment of the GPS Operational
Control Segment to the Boeing GPS III Team.
Lockheed will join Boeing and CSC
in supporting the ground element.
Raytheon Company is a global leader in defense electronics and complex
integrated information systems, and provides international experience and
resources necessary to ensure a low-risk program.
Raytheon Electronics
Systems is a leader in military GPS user equipment and related technologies
and, with support from the Command, Control, Communications and Information
(C3I) segment, will lead the user element supported by Boeing.
The Navstar GPS is a U.S. Department of Defense satellite-based radio
navigation system.
Originally developed to aid military navigation, GPS has
revolutionized both timing and navigation.
The system is currently used on
military, civil and commercial airplanes, ships and boats, automobiles and
emergency vehicles.
New applications are being developed every day.
For nearly three decades Boeing has played a key role in what has become a
vital worldwide utility.
Boeing designed and built 40 first- and
second-generation Navstar GPS satellites for the U.S. Air Force, and continues
to provide launch and on-orbit support from Shriever Air Force Base in
Colorado.
In April 1996, Boeing was selected by the U.S. Air Force to design,
develop and produce the next generation of GPS satellites, Block IIF.
Up to
12 Block IIF spacecraft will be built through 2009.
Boeing is responsible for integrating the upgrade of the Air Force GPS
Operational Control Segment to incorporate new computing and software
capabilities, and most recently has responded to the Air Force GPS Joint
Program Office’s need for advanced GPS concepts by performing U.S. Air
Force-directed GPS Modernization special studies, the Navigation Warfare
study, and internal research and development efforts.
Additionally, Boeing is a supplier of specialized user equipment and
receiver designs that incorporate GPS, including precise timing, search and
rescue operations, and vehicle tracking.
GPS III program activity will be managed out of Boeing GI&CS headquarters
in Anaheim, Calif.
