Sometime in life there comes a seminal moment when you realize that through the crucible of challenges, your best achievements and success will define the future that awaits you. In the arena of national security, the safety of aviation, and the effective functioning of our society, that case is especially true regarding the future of the Global Positioning System.
GPS is a national asset. The Government Accountability Office even went so far to describe it as an “invisibly utility” vital to the functioning of the U.S. economy and society. Consumers use GPS and its timing signals for routine things like daily navigation and time checks, shipping companies use it to track packages, airline and train companies rely on it to ensure transportation networks function safely and efficiently, and the global economy uses it monitor the flow of products and money around the world.
{mosads}The current GPS system is decades old with well-documented vulnerabilities that drove the U.S. Air Force to begin development of a next generation system capable of having more integrated and interrelated computer and electronic systems across both military and civilian uses. Critical to this decision was the foresight to understand the looming threat of cyber intrusions and attacks that could lead to cyber warfare against the United States as a means of degrading and defeating our ability to respond to crises around the world or even events here on our homeland.
Just like the GPS systems today, a functioning system requires two components – the satellites that orbit the earth in a geosynchronous orbit and the complex ground system that communicates with them. Both systems have experienced distinct and complex technical and software challenges adversely impacting the original budget estimates and the timeline for being operationally fielded. In the case of the GPS OCX ground-based portion of the system, it is the first program of its kind to overcome unprecedented engineering challenges.
As with any complex program of this type, the technical issues grew to a point that the baseline costs for the GPS OCX system exceeded a 25 percent growth point, which triggered notification of Congress of a Nunn-McCurdy breach. While many in Congress and the public clamored for accountability and even cancellation of the entire GPS replacement program, wiser and calmer leadership prevailed in the U.S. Air Force and at the Pentagon as the program underwent a thorough top-to-bottom review and certification of its vital national security necessity. Realistically, there was no off-the-shelf GPS replacement system that could meet the stringent requirements necessary to safeguard this critical systems’ contribution to our national security.
Out of this rigorous and thorough review, the unique capabilities of the GPS OCX system demonstrated an order of magnitude improvement in capability: old and new signal processing capability, a simplified operational system leveraging automation that saves the American taxpayer money in the long run with reduced crew sizes for day-to-day operations, and an adaptable architecture system that can more readily evolve to future GPS mission requirements.
The areas of information assurance and cyber security make the development of a robust and capable GPS system critical to not only the U.S. economy and our society, it is of vital importance to those who defend and protect our nation – the warfighter at the tip of the spear. As succinctly put by Air Force General John Hyten, Commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, “The capability that [GPS] OCX delivers is absolutely critical to the warfighter. We’ve got to improve our resiliency in space and in ground – and that was one of the significant goals that OCX had. Whatever we do for the program specifically, we have to deliver that capability to the warfighter.”
Balancing technological advances in defense capabilities while facing constrained budget resources continues to be the ultimate challenge for lawmakers. Ensuring a robust national defense and a battle-ready military remains their critical charge. For our warfighters, the capability that GPS OCX offers could be the difference in critical, split-second, life-or-death decisions. Congress and the Pentagon must continue to support this program and commit the resources to ensure its completion. Anything less is done at the peril of our national security.
CDR Lippold is a retired naval officer who was the Commanding Officer of USS Cole (DDG 67) when it survived a suicide terrorist attack by al Qaeda. He is a highly regarded national security expert who currently serves as President of Lippold Strategies, LLC.
The views expressed by authors are their own and not the views of The Hill.