Poland’s drone defenses get a way to work without GPS

Advanced Navigation, an Australian navigation technology company, has signed an $18.5 million deal to supply inertial navigation systems for Kongsberg’s PROTECTOR counter-drone platforms, the company said Sept. 22. The systems are bound for Poland, where Kongsberg is delivering 18 counter-drone batteries under a contract worth roughly NOK 16 billion, or about $1.5 billion, with Poland’s state-owned defense group Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa.

Under the deal, Advanced Navigation will supply hundreds of its Boreas fiber-optic gyroscope inertial navigation systems. The systems give Kongsberg’s PROTECTOR stations a way to track their own position, orientation, and heading without relying on GPS, which lets the platforms keep detecting and tracking aerial threats even when satellite navigation signals are jammed or spoofed.

PROTECTOR is Kongsberg’s remote weapon station family, used on vehicles, ships, and static installations. The Polish contract, signed in January and known as the SAN CUAS program, covers a mix of guns, missiles, and interceptor drones mounted on both PROTECTOR remote weapon stations and Kongsberg’s Medium Caliber Turret, a lightweight, unmanned 30mm turret already in full-rate production. Kongsberg has delivered more than 20,000 PROTECTOR systems to over 30 countries.

This is not Advanced Navigation’s first work with Kongsberg. The company previously supplied its Boreas D90 inertial navigation system for Kongsberg’s PROTECTOR RS4 platform under an earlier, smaller deal.

GPS jamming and spoofing have become routine in recent conflicts, and militaries have increasingly sought navigation systems that do not depend on satellite signals to function. Advanced Navigation’s inertial systems use onboard sensors, rather than GPS, to calculate a platform’s position and movement, which the company says lets its equipment keep operating accurately in electronically contested environments.

Advanced Navigation said its production is supported by Australia’s Department of Defence Global Supply Chain Program, and that its facilities allow for internal component sourcing and testing meant to speed delivery timelines.