Cost of Raytheon’s GPS Ground Network Rises 56% to $5.3 Billion
- It’s Pentagon’s ‘No. 1 troubled program,’ an official has said
- Air Force has only 25% confidence the new estimate will hold
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Raytheon Co.’s network of ground stations for the U.S. Air Force’s newest Global Positioning System satellites may cost at least $5.3 billion to develop, according to the service, a 56 percent increase from the original projection.
Even that preliminary Air Force estimate may prove low because the service says it has less than a 25 percent level of confidence in it. The added burden to taxpayers further undermines the reputation of a system that’s running almost five years late and has been called the Pentagon’s “No. 1 troubled program” by the service’s head of space systems acquisition.