Schriever Space Force Base, Colo. –
Lt. Col. Robert Wray, 2nd Space Operations Squadron commander, announced his unit’s mission will include safeguarding civil Position, Navigation and Timing signals going forward during a presentation at the 62nd Meeting of the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee on Sept. 20, 2022.
The announcement represents a shift in how 2nd SOPS does business with other U.S. government agencies and users in general.
“We provide GPS to the world, not just to the U.S. Armed Forces,” said Wray. “So, it makes sense for us to support the larger section of government and non-government users.”
Wray unveiled 2nd SOPS’ new mission statement, which reflects the shift in operational mindset: Space warfighters delivering position, navigation, and timing to optimize civil, commercial, and international utility while employing Navigation Warfare to joint and coalition operations spanning all domains.
“I want to improve relationships with external partners, civil being chief among those,” said Wray. “2nd SOPS will need inputs from customers to codify their information needs. Our GPS Warfighter Collaboration Cell is directly interacting with customers to get feedback on those needs.”
Wray also gave a glimpse into the future of how the Next Generation Operational Control Segment, or OCX, will enable 2nd SOPS to better meet its civil support goals.
“OCX will enable 2nd SOPS to command and control all the available distinct GPS signals: military code and the L1C, L2C and L5 civil signals,” said Wray. “We want to have our processes set before OCX is online, through collaboration and transparency with customers, partners and stakeholders. I want them to come see our ops floor, come see what we do, what we can offer, ask questions and share their needs.”
OCX is expected to be online in Fall of next year and will allow 2nd SOPS to provide the modernized, full spectrum of the GPS signals.