Advanced Navigation has signed a $26 million supply agreement with Kongsberg to provide inertial navigation systems for counter-drone platforms being delivered to Poland.
The agreement will see “hundreds” of Advanced Navigation’s Boreas fibre-optic gyroscope inertial navigation systems integrated into Kongsberg’s PROTECTOR counter-uncrewed aerial systems (C-UAS) platform. The companies said the inertial systems are intended to support accurate positioning and stabilisation in environments where GPS signals may be jammed, spoofed or unavailable.
Kongsberg’s PROTECTOR platforms are being delivered to the Polish Armaments Agency under a wider NOK 16 billion deal (about $2.41 billion), according to the press release.
The supply arrangement is supported by the Australian Department of Defence’s Global Supply Chain (GSC) Program, which is designed to help Australian firms participate in international defence manufacturing networks.
In the announcement, the companies positioned the deal against rising concern in Europe over the increasing use of low-cost drones and the growing prevalence of electronic warfare that can degrade satellite-based navigation. The release argues that air defence systems reliant on GPS can be affected by jamming and spoofing, creating demand for alternative navigation and stabilisation technologies.
Advanced Navigation EMEA Managing Director David Leniewski said electromagnetic warfare was becoming a defining feature of modern conflict, and described resilient positioning independent of satellite navigation as important for maintaining sensor alignment and target engagement when GPS is denied.
Kongsberg senior vice president for land systems Jørgen Andreas Bull said integrating inertial navigation into the PROTECTOR C-UAS platform was aimed at maintaining capability when GPS is unavailable, including in scenarios such as protecting convoys, airfields and naval assets against uncrewed swarms.
The deal follows an earlier agreement in which Advanced Navigation supplied Boreas D90 systems for integration into Kongsberg’s PROTECTOR RS4 platform, the companies said.
