Space Force To Award New Resilient-GPS Contracts

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland—The U.S. Space Force expects to imminently award follow-on contracts for the Resilient-GPS (R-GPS) program after Congress appropriated additional funds to keep the program alive last year.

Kick-started by former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall in 2024, the R-GPS program envisioned fielding an initial eight small satellites to provide position, navigation and timing (PNT) from medium Earth orbit beginning in 2028, separate but complementary to the current GPS constellation. After performing prototyping work with three vendors, the Space Force chose not to fund the next phase of the program in its fiscal 2027 budget request.

But with $15 million in congressional add-on funding, the service has continued the R-GPS program and will award new contracts “shortly” to the existing vendors: Astranis, L3Harris Technologies and Sierra Space, Col. Neil Barnas, System Delta 381 commander at Space Systems Command, told reporters Sept. 15 at the Air & Space Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference here.

The new contract awards will focus on “high-risk technologies associated with this future space segment,” he said. At the top of that list are reprogrammable space-based cryptographic devices, along with new monitoring concepts that were explored under the R-GPS program. Barnas described those elements as a subset of capabilities that would have been explored under an envisioned “R-GPS Phase 1.”

“It’s ultimately those elements that we thought were most important for harvesting and for a future space architecture,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Space Force is preparing for its next generation of GPS satellites and ground systems, recognizing that those platforms must serve a broader range of users, from one-way drones to space-based sensors.

The service launched the final two GPS III satellites earlier this year and is moving through production under the next contract, known as GPS III Follow-On (IIIF). It is now in the early stages of crafting the next GPS architecture, known as Gen4, after setting up an industry day later this month to kick-start a new ground segment and then focus on the space requirements, Barnas said.

While there is no specific timeline to finalize that architecture, the service is taking a holistic look at PNT requirements at the user level, he said, acknowledging that GPS is now used for new systems such as commercial one-way drones and on-orbit assets.

The Space Force’s latest GPS III satellite was accepted into the active constellation less than two weeks ago, Erin Carper, acting portfolio acquisition executive for PNT and military satellite communications, told reporters. That spacecraft carried a prototype digital atomic clock, which was successfully demonstrated prior to the spacecraft entering operations, she said.

The service has contracted Lockheed Martin to build 14 GPS IIIF satellites. The first vehicle in that line is entering thermal and acoustics testing, Carper said.