RTX unit Collins Aerospace has been approved to commence full rate production of its Mounted Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Generation II system (MAPS GEN II).
Collins Aerospace is set to manufacture thousands of MAPS units.
The approval follows the fifth delivery order of the mounted navigation system. The US Army awarded the fourth delivery order for the system, worth $96.8m, in 2024.
In 2022, Collins Aerospace was chosen by the US Army to produce the MAPS Gen II system.
The system will be used on a range of US Army and US Marines Corps’ (USMC) ground combat vehicles and military watercraft.
The MAPS system integrates sensor data, including satellite navigation and secured positioning, to provide critical information for both crewed and uncrewed ground vehicles.
The MAPS GEN II system includes Collins Aerospace’s NavHub-100 navigation system and the Multi-Sensor Antenna System (MSAS-100). Together, they help enhance protection against emerging GPS threats, aiding multi-domain operations and countering electronic warfare tactics.
The system is designed to support mission types such as combat, artillery fire, air and missile defence, ship-to-shore movements and contested logistics.
Collins Aerospace Resilient Navigation Solutions vice-president and general manager Sandy Brown stated: “Through close coordination with our customer, we’ve met the modernised fielding requirements for MAPS while reducing production costs.
“MAPS GEN II is a critical part of the DoD [US Department of Defense]’s modernisation goals and will provide the warfighter with trusted access to assured PNT when they need it most.”
Collins Aerospace also provides scaleable configurations of the NavHub-100 navigation system and MSAS-100.
The NavHub-100 is responsible for generating and disseminating Assured Position, Navigation and Timing (APNT) data to all onboard systems of a ground platform via a single device.
The MSAS-100 features ground GPS anti-jam antenna electronics combined with an integrated seven-element controlled reception pattern antenna.
