WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has taken control of the Pentagon’s long-delayed effort to field jam-resistant GPS receivers, an organizational shift intended to close a persistent gap between developing the technology and installing it aboard military aircraft, ships, vehicles and weapons.

The transfer, announced July 23, puts the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center in charge of the Military GPS User Equipment program’s first two increments. The program, known as MGUE, had been managed by the Space Force and has experienced years of technical setbacks, schedule slips and divided responsibility among the organizations developing receiver technology and the military services expected to put it into use.

The move gives the Air Force center responsibility for developing, integrating and sustaining equipment capable of receiving M-code, an encrypted military GPS signal designed to provide more secure positioning, navigation and timing when conventional satellite signals are being jammed or spoofed.

The Space Force will continue to operate the GPS satellite constellation and its ground control network. The Air Force will manage much of the equipment that allows aircraft, ships, ground vehicles, weapons and personnel to use the military signal.

That division reflects a practical distinction within the GPS enterprise. Satellites generate and transmit the signal, but military platforms need specialized chips, receiver cards, antennas and software to process it. Each receiver then has to be integrated with the navigation, avionics and mission systems of the aircraft, ship or weapon that will carry it.

MGUE develops the underlying chips and receiver cards, as well as equipment for handheld devices. But producing a working card is only one step toward an operational system. The technology must also be incorporated into a complete receiver, tested against military requirements and adapted to the power, cooling, software and physical constraints of hundreds of different platforms.

That handoff has been one of the program’s most persistent problems.

Space Systems Command developed the common MGUE technology, while the individual military services and weapon system offices were generally responsible for installing it. The Government Accountability Office repeatedly found that the arrangement contributed to problems coordinating receiver development, platform integration, testing and fielding.

MGUE Increment 1 encountered technical deficiencies and years of delays. At the same time, the Air Force struggled to integrate M-code receivers onto aircraft, where new navigation equipment can require extensive software changes, airworthiness certification and testing with existing avionics.

Technical setbacks

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center already manages a broad portfolio of navigation receivers and aircraft electronics. It also oversees the M-Code Aviation Receivers Joint Program Office, established in 2024 to consolidate oversight and improve the integration of positioning, navigation and timing equipment across the services.

The Air Force will now control MGUE Increments 1 and 2 as well as aviation-receiver programs that rely on the technology.

The Pentagon began developing M-code in the late 1990s as concerns grew that adversaries could disrupt or deceive the GPS signals used by U.S. forces. The first satellite capable of broadcasting the signal was launched in 2005.

MGUE Increment 1 was designed to provide common cards for ground equipment and for aviation and maritime systems. Contractors encountered hardware and software problems as they worked to meet encryption, security and anti-jamming requirements within the size and power limits of military platforms.

Increment 2 was intended to produce a newer generation of chips and equipment, including technology for handheld devices and munitions. It also encountered design and power-consumption challenges.

The result has been an uneven modernization effort in which M-code has been available from satellites for years but remains difficult and costly to deploy across the military’s inventory of aircraft, ships, vehicles and weapons.

Individual services will still have to fund modifications, conduct testing and decide when to replace older receivers. But this reorganization places responsibility for the core receiver technology and much of the work required to turn it into operational equipment within the same Air Force acquisition organization.