UK’s DASA explores GNSS alternatives for military navigation

Image: UK DASA

The United Kingdom’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) has launched a new Market Exploration called Alternative Navigation for Weapon Systems, which aims to explore alternatives to GNSS for military navigation.

The Market Exploration is being run on behalf of Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) and seeks to understand the range of technologies used for commercial positioning and navigation systems.

GNSS such as GPS and Galileo are widely used for commercial and military positioning and navigation, but these systems are vulnerable to jamming and spoofing. DASA wants to explore alternative navigation technologies that could be developed and trialed within the next three years.

The potential system should:

• be developed to an operational level in either a civilian or on military application
• currently be at a Technology Readiness Level of 4 or above.
• not be solely reliant on GNSS.
• have the potential to be further developed to meet military specifications.
• have sufficient accuracy to monitor position during deployment to within 5 meters.

The agency is particularly interested in innovations from non-traditional defence suppliers and has a dedicated team of DASA Innovation Partners who can discuss proposals with submitters.

The deadline to submit proposals is April 7.