CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - BAE Systems has received a $16 million contract from RTX's Collins Aerospace to design and develop an M-Code Global Positioning System (GPS) solution for the U.S. Navy’s Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS). BAE Systems will provide its Digital GPS Anti-Jam Receiver (DIGAR-500M) to support the JPALS transition to M-Code.
JPALS is a GPS-based precision approach and landing system that guides tactical aircraft onto aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships in all weather and sea conditions. The Navy declared JPALS initial operational capability in May 2021 after completing installation, integration, and flight certification aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.
Collins Aerospace describes JPALS as a software-based, high-integrity differential GPS navigation system that uses an anti-jam encrypted datalink between aircraft and shipboard GPS sensors, antennas, and equipment. The system provides precision landing guidance to carrier-based aircraft during recovery operations.
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Encrypted communications
M-Code is the encrypted military GPS signal designed to resist jamming and improve security compared with legacy military GPS capabilities. The Navy has identified installation of GPS M-Code receivers as a JPALS modification, providing an independent indication of the program's transition toward M-Code.
BAE Systems says its existing JPALS GPS solution uses Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) receivers. The DIGAR-500M will support both SAASM and M-Code operations, enabling JPALS to accommodate mixed-aircraft configurations during the transition to M-Code.
The DIGAR product line uses digital beamforming for GPS anti-jam and anti-spoof protection. BAE Systems says the technology supports as many as 24 simultaneously steered beams and is designed to provide assured positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) for airborne and maritime platforms.
The M-Code upgrade is intended to improve JPALS resilience against GPS interference during one of naval aviation's most demanding navigation operations: carrier recovery, when aircraft require accurate position and approach guidance.
Work on BAE Systems' military GPS products is performed at the company's engineering and manufacturing facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
