Raytheon UK eyes US opportunities and APNT role for Landshield, receiv…

Raytheon UK's Landshield (left) and Landshield Plus (right) GPS defensive antennas displayed at the DSEI 2019 exhibition. (Janes/Giles Ebbutt)

RTX business unit Raytheon UK is “seeking ways to get involved in the US Army Mounted Assured Positioning, Navigation, and Timing System (MAPS) and Dismounted APS (DAPS) programmes”, Toby Marshall, the company's head of business development and strategy for sensors told Janes, adding that they would position the Landshield Global Positioning System (GPS) defence device as part of a potential solution.

Landshield and its larger sibling, Landshield Plus, are GPS receive antennas resembling an ice hockey puck, which are designed to defeat intentional jamming and spoofing and unintended mutual interference using steerable null and spoof detection technologies.

MAPS is provided by Collins Aerospace, also a business of RTX, while TRX supplies the DAPS capability. The current MAPS Gen II requirement is for a high-specification solution that is met by the Collins NavHub-100 sensor fusion device, coupled with its Multi-Sensor Antenna System (MSAS-100), which is being installed in a range of US platforms. Marshall said that should a subsequent MAPS requirement with a lower specification emerge, then a NavHub-100/Landshield combination would offer a more cost-effective solution.

He added that discussions with the US Army's programme manager PNT (PM PNT) indicated that the DAPS programme might be looking to add an anti-jam/anti-spoof (AJ/AS) antenna capability. He said that Landshield would be suitable for this and that trials were taking place in the US, one of which included TRX products.