Lockheed Martin has won a GPS contract worth up to $105 million

Lockheed Martin has secured a contract worth up to $105 million to modernize the ground control system for U.S. GPS satellites. The agreement covers support for current satellites as well as launch operations, early orbit management, and eventual retirement of the upcoming GPS IIIF generation.

The deal comes at a critical time, as the U.S. Department of Defense is considering ending the troubled OCX program managed by RTX. That project has faced years of delays and major cost overruns, with delivery pushed back since 2016 and projected costs rising from $3.7 billion to nearly $8 billion.

Lockheed has already been developing the alternative AEP system (Architecture Evolution Plan), which is currently used to operate existing GPS satellites. With this latest upgrade, AEP could also manage future GPS IIIF satellites, potentially becoming a full replacement for OCX.

The U.S. Space Force expects to launch the first GPS IIIF satellite next year, while 22 satellites are already in production.