Pentagon has little to show for two decades of GPS modernization work

Despite more than two decades of work, the US military's GPS modernization efforts are still so muddled that uninterrupted operation of a secure network of GPS satellites could be at risk. 

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report yesterday filled with phrases like "multiple delays" and "significant development challenges" to describe the Space Force-led effort to transition to military-code GPS. Also known as M-Code, the tech can be encrypted and is resistant to jamming and spoofing.

Adoption of M-Code GPS requires new equipment in three places: space, ground control, and user equipment. The Space Force has been working on all three, and 24 of the 31 satellites in the GPS constellation are now M-Code capable, but there's little hardware on the ground able to make use of the enhanced signals.

"GAO has reported on challenges DoD experienced developing these systems since 2009 and made many recommendations ...