The Global Positioning System (GPS) Directorate celebrated the 20th Anniversary of achieving Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for GPS Dec. 8, 2013.
In 1973, the Navstar Global Positioning System Joint Program Office (JPO), headed by then-Colonel Bradford Parkinson, developed the GPS architecture and initiated efforts to field a prototype system to prove the concept of space-based global navigation would work. Since that time, GPS has evolved from an idea, to a prototype, to a global utility. It continues to evolve, with modernization bringing forth new capabilities for the 21st century.
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