Shaun Waterman
The U.S. military is doubling down on non-space-based alternatives to GPS, the ubiquitous position, navigation, and timing service provided by the U.S. Space Force, with new funding for the development and testing of operational prototypes of quantum-based devices that don’t depend on easily jammable signals from satellites.
Last month the Pentagon’s cutting-edge technology research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced the start of Phase 1 of its Robust Quantum Sensors, or RoQS, program, a trailblazing effort to prototype quantum sensing technology to provide a localized, non-space-based alternative to GPS. Although DARPA has not released any spending figures for RoQS, one company selected for the program said it received two contracts totaling $24.4M.
“If we’re relying on space-based, GPS-based PNT, then we may be in trouble,” Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Christopher W. Grady told industry executives last week at a National Defense Industrial Association conference in Washington, D.C. Explaining that despite recent improvements, GPS signals remained susceptible to jamming, Grady said developing alternative PNT sources was “a passion project,” for him, and something that “I am extremely focused on to enable the warfighting team to go do their job.”
Grady’s observations got some real-world emphasis over the weekend when GPS jamming, allegedly by Russia, forced the plane carrying EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to land using paper maps and ground-based navigational signals, according to the BBC, although there’s some confusion among experts owing to contradictory technical data. The Bulgarian government has ordered an inquiry.
The visit, to Bulgaria, was part of a tour by von der Leyen of EU nations on the front line between the bloc and Russia.
It’s just the latest in a string of incidents that demonstrate Russia’s ability to jam GPS, something it has done so frequently since the start of the Ukraine war that commercial airline pilots in the Baltic states now must routinely rely on alternative navigation systems.
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