HomeTechnologyPentagon pulls the plug on one of the military's most troubled space programs

Pentagon pulls the plug on one of the military's most troubled space programs

TechnologyApril 21, 2026
1 min read
Pentagon pulls the plug on one of the military's most troubled space programs
Problems with the ground system would have "put current GPS military and civilian capabilities at risk."

The Pentagon has canceled a ground control system for the US military's GPS satellite navigation network after the program's enduring problems "proved insurmountable," the US Space Force announced in a press release Monday.

The Global Positioning System Next-Generation Operational Control System, known by the acronym OCX, was officially canceled by Michael Duffey, the Pentagon's defense acquisition executive, on Friday, April 17, the Space Force said.

The decision to terminate the OCX program ends a 16-year, multibillion-dollar effort to design, test, and deliver a command and control system for the military's constellation of GPS navigation satellites. The program consisted of software to handle new signals from the latest generation of GPS satellites, GPS III, which started launching in 2018, along with two master control stations and modifications to ground monitoring stations around the world.

Read full article

Comments

Source: Ars Technica

Share this article

Related Articles

We translated the Palantir manifesto for actual human beings
2026Apr 22

We translated the Palantir manifesto for actual human beings

Palantir CEO Alex Karp is a man in charge of one of the most important and frightening companies in the world. Karp's new book, cowritten with Nicholas Zamiska, is called The Technological Republic. A

Article1 min read
Read More
SpaceX cuts a deal to maybe buy Cursor for $60 billion
2026Apr 22

SpaceX cuts a deal to maybe buy Cursor for $60 billion

With an IPO looming for Elon Musk's SpaceX / xAI / X combo platter of companies, SpaceX has announced an odd arrangement to either acquire the automated programming platform Cursor for $60 billion or

Article1 min read
Read More