When American warfighters or our allies need GPS-guided systems, there’s no time to wait. These systems rely on a secure military signal, which requires sensitive cryptographic data to unlock. If that data expires or needs to be updated for a new mission, the equipment must be reprogrammed—a process that used to require shipping it back to the U.S. and often took months.

Now, thanks to a mobile capability developed by Booz Allen and their teammate Hughes Design Group, that same reprogramming can happen in just days, directly in the field. This technology breakthrough, called the Mobile Cryptographic Initialization Capability (M-CIC), has cut overseas GPS initialization timelines from months to days, ensuring that our warfighters and our allies have cutting-edge weapons on the front lines precisely when and where they need them.

With M-CIC, the U.S. military has been able to cost-effectively transfer more than 10,000 weapons and military assets to a dozen allied nations in 2025, saving the U.S. government an estimated $40 million and counting.

“We can reprogram GPS devices on-site within a week, something that would’ve taken months if we had to ship them back to the U.S.,” says Benjamin Haas, senior engineer at Booz Allen. “The savings are adding up fast, and it’s making a real difference for our warfighters and our allies in the field.”

GPS equipment is embedded across nearly every U.S. military platform—from handheld devices carried by soldiers to Army vehicles like the Stryker to air, naval, and undersea systems. It’s also integrated into nearly all guided munitions, meaning anything that isn’t a “dumb bomb” depends on GPS for accuracy and effectiveness.

Booz Allen has been driving a decades-long mission to strengthen and secure military GPS. We played a critical role in developing M-Code—a military-grade GPS signal with advanced antijamming properties. This upgraded signal ensures warfighters have dependable position, navigation, and timing data. That’s essential when the U.S. military and its allies are operating in contested environments.

“When it comes to GPS, we have a long and storied technology role. We did the engineering work that went into creating the M-Code signal and have carried lessons forward from decades of experience,” Haas says.

It’s all part of what Booz Allen brings to the mission—deep technical expertise, decades of experience, and a relentless focus on delivering advanced technology to the front lines while saving taxpayer dollars. And it’s the kind of impact that has earned praise from senior leaders across the Department of War (DOW).