The 2nd Space Operations Squadron at Schriever AFB, Colo., expects to release the next software upgrade for the Global Positioning System ground system early this month and complete this refresh by early January. “We’ve done a thorough test of this routine upgrade and it passed without any anomalies,” said Col. Harold Martin, positioning, navigation, and timing division chief in Air Force Space Command’s requirements directorate. He added, “The upgrade doesn’t change the navigation message and should be transparent to GPS users.” This work builds upon previous upgrades instituted in January and March as part of the Air Force’s larger ongoing effort to improve and maintain the current GPS ground control segment until it fields the next-generation advanced control segment, dubbed OCX, in 2015. (Peterson release)
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…