L-3 wins R&D work for Air Force GPS equipment

L-3 Communications Corp. has won a $10.4 million contract from the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base to provide research and development for user equipment for global positioning systems, the company announced July 10.

L-3's Interstate Electronics Corp. division of Los Angeles will perform the work on the contract, which is expected to be completed by February 2005, the company said.

Under the contract, L-3 of New York will provide research and development designed to reduce risk and advance technology required for the future development of the Air Force's Modernized Military Global Positioning System User Equipment project.

The contract will provide a better understanding to industry and government of the technical specifications and the risks regarding implementation, certification, integration and operation of the user equipment security architecture, according to the company.

The program also will assess the feasibility of designing, developing and producing user equipment that can effectively detect, acquire, track and process navigation data under various conditions, as well as the feasibility and advisability of implementing Y-Code signal, an encrypted code, in the user equipment.

The effort is structured around three studies: security, alternate receiver configuration and a test receiver that will be used to validate and reduce the risk of evolving requirements. All three studies require a synergistic approach to ensure security boundaries are protected. The company will put significant emphasis on cost utility, affordability, risk reduction and interoperability between legacy systems.

L-3 is a provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and products, secure communications systems and products, avionics and ocean products, training devices and services, microwave components and telemetry, instrumentation, and space and navigation products.

The company has more than 27,000 employees and had annual sales of $4 billion in 2002.