The United States Space Force (USSF) has now received an Operational Acceptance for the GPS III Military-Code's (M-Code) Early Use (MCEU) because of the current system's lack of control on the ground. The numerous cluster of 23 GPS satellites are up and running; however, its operational control system (OCX) is five years behind schedule, with June 2021 as its earliest completion.

Army GPS
(Photo : US Army)

A limited new version of the fool and hack-proof military-grade GPS signals, the practical GPS III M-Code, would now be available for use to any of the US Military's divisions anywhere in the world. The Global Positioning Technology is crucial to the US Military as it is a necessary update to previous technology that is subject to jamming from enemies.

According to C4isrnet, the encrypted M-Code signal is necessary for the US Military because it uses a different programming language to provide a more secure line or signal for the troops. Moreover, this technology features "anti-spooofing" and "anti-jamming" capabilities to avoid all the military's inaccurate data reports. 

GPS is used by the military in terms of navigation, positioning, and timing data that are crucial for the planning, reporting, and carrying out an attack. Current military GPS M-Code-ready satellites already have 23 launched and already in orbit; however, these are all irrelevant without its operational control system or the OCX. 

OCX is still under construction, and are reported last year that it was five years behind schedule, with the earliest completion to go on its way by June 2021. Raytheon Technologies were tasked to create the OCX for the GPS III M-Code signal but could not provide the technology earlier. 

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US Space Force Tasks Lockheed Martin to Create MCEU 

The US Government's solution to this is to assign Lockheed Martin via the US Space Force, to create a new technology called the M-Code Early Use (MCEU) system to take advantage of the technology and use it the earliest. The US Space Force gave this job to Lockheed Martin last 2017 and finished the upgraded ground system last July.

Conflict with Starlink? SpaceX Announces New GPS III-4 Launch on October 2 While Starlink on October 1
(Photo : Screenshot From SpaceX @SpaceX Twitter Page)
Conflict with Starlink? SpaceX Announces New GPS III-4 Launch on October 2 While Starlink on October 1

The agency believes that this would be sufficient to utilize the M-Code earlier than the expected completion of its intended OCX. According to GPS World, US Space Force has already received Operational Acceptance last November 19 to use the M-Code signal among the US Military. 

The system would serve as a "gap filler" for the extensive creation of the original OCX system that has claimed that it is five years behind its creation schedule. The US Military can now request access to use the GPS M-Code Signal provided that the team has the special equipment required for the technology.

The Last U.S. Troop Brigade In Iraq Departs Country After Over Eight Years Of War
(Photo : (Photo by Lucas Jackson-Pool/Getty Images))
NASIRIYAH, IRAQ - DECEMBER 16: Sergeant Daniel Martin of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division watches the road and a GPS device inside his unit's Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle during the U.S. military's last combat patrol in the country on Highway 1, north of Camp Adder on December 16, 2011 near Nasiriyah, Iraq. All U.S. troops were scheduled to have departed Iraq by December 31st, 2011. At least 4,485 U.S. military personnel died in service in Iraq. According to the Iraq Body Count, more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have died from war-related violence.

The M-Code Early Use version is already powerful enough to use. The new tech can give Space Force the ability to coordinate, control, and monitor M-Code that are part of the GPS Constellation in orbit. 

Related Article: SpaceX Escorts Third Military Satellite Into Space: Space Force GPS


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Written by Isaiah Alonzo

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