Northrop Grumman Completes GPS OCX Integrated Baseline Review

Northrop Grumman Corporation (Reston, Virginia) has completed the integrated baseline review for the U.S. Air Force Next-Generation Global Positioning System (GPS) Ground Control Segment (OCX), achieving two major milestone reviews within a matter of weeks, the company announced Tuesday.

The integrated baseline review accomplishes several goals, such as identifying key schedule milestones, ensuring adequate resources are available to complete program tasks, and verifying tasks are planned and can be objectively measured, says the company. The review follows close on the heels of the Northrop Grumman team’s successful system requirements review, another major milestone.

“This was the most comprehensive integrated baseline review of my experience,” said Steve Bergjans, GPS OCX vice president and program manager for Northrop Grumman. He said the Air Force “dug deep,” asking hundreds of detailed questions that required the company to thoroughly explain its management practices in support of the OCX program.

He continued, “To have successfully completed this very thorough review almost immediately after the comprehensive system requirements review is clear evidence our team can take on multiple, high-priority tasks while delivering strong results for the customer and it positions the Northrop Grumman team for long-term success with the program.”

The back-to-back completion of the system requirements review and the integrated baseline review is a shared accomplishment of Northrop Grumman; Harris Corporation, Melbourne, Fla.; Integral Systems Inc., Lanham, Md.; Infinity Systems Engineering, Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services, Gaithersburg, Md.

GPS OCX is intended to revolutionize the operations concept for command and control of existing GPS II and future GPS III satellites. OCX will deliver new GPS mission planning, constellation management, ground antenna, monitoring station, and satellite command and control capabilities.

Under the 18-month contract, Northrop Grumman’s Team OCX will provide systems engineering and integration; architecture design; communications and network engineering; information assurance and security; modeling and simulation; network management; software development; support, maintenance and implementation; and test and evaluation.