The Air Force would be forced to tell Raytheon [RTN] to stop work on OCX if Congress extends its continuing resolution (CR) through the rest of fiscal year 2017, according to a key officer.
Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Military Deputy, Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch testified Wednesday that a year-long CR would be devastating to Air Force modernization efforts. The service and Raytheon are already struggling with fixing OCX, formally known as the next-generation Operational Control System for the Global Positioning System (GPS). One challenging area has been getting the cyber security. 
Raytheon recently completed a major systems engineering milestone for the final software iteration and also developed software more efficiently using commercial best practices. The engineering milestone provides extra rigor and accountability around the systems engineering for the rest of the GPS OCX program, Raytheon said (Defense Daily, March 7).
Bunch warned that a year-long CR would force the Air Force to require as many as 17 budget anomalies, if it could afford so, for modernization programs like the B-2, B-52, Minuteman III, B-21 and nuclear command, control and communications (NC3). A year-long CR, he said, would impact 60 new starts planned across the spectrum.
Bunch said other programs that would be impacted by a year-long CR include the Family of Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals, Compass Call and the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.
A year-long CR extends FY ’16 funding levels through Sept. 31, the end of FY ’17. Bunch’s remarks came before the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee.