The GPS III-8 mission--the final GPS III satellite--launches on Apr. 21 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. (U.S. Space Force Photo)

The Pentagon has decided to end the GPS Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX) by RTX [RTX] and instead move forward on upgrades to the existing ground system for GPS, the Lockheed Martin [LMT] Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP). Lockheed Martin said last Thursday that it had received a $105 million AEP contract. In response to a Defense Daily question on Thursday just after the award on whether Space Force was cancelling GPS OCX, the service on Friday afternoon said that…