United Kingdom (U.K.) army officials have ordered their first supply of TACNAV systems from KVH Industries in Middletown, R.I., in a move to equip their armored vehicles for the digital battlefield.
The initial order, valued at nearly $500,000, will be installed on British vehicles in Europe. The U.K. joins Sweden, Canada, and the U.S. in using TACNAV systems for targeting and positional applications in military fleets.
Unlike other military forces that use only Global Positioning System (GPS) data for position information, U.K. army units with TACNAV systems will not be susceptible to data losses if terrestrial interference or hostile activity causes GPS signal interruptions, KVH officials claim.
TACNAV systems integrate with a vehicle`s GPS to ensure that positional awareness and knowledge of far target location is 100 percent available to force commanders, KVH officials say. The U.K. Armored Trials and Development Unit carried out a lengthy assessment of the KVH TACNAV system as part of a wider digitization awareness program, they add.
"This order represents the first deployed use of TACNAV systems by the U.K," says Martin Kits van Heyningen, president and chief executive officer.
TACNAV is a digital compass-based tactical navigation system designed to bring together all of the data that an armored vehicle crew needs. Information from each of the vehicle`s sensors, including the GPS, laser rangefinder, turret angle encoder, odometer, and the precise-heading data, clearly appears in bold graphics on driver`s and commander`s displays. In addition, TACNAV integrates data from the vehicle`s odometer and heading sensor to generate accurate dead reckoning data should the GPS fail. — J.R.
For more information on TACNAV or KVH Industries contact Jim Dodez by phone at 401-847-3327, by fax at 401-849-0045, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.kvh.com.
