Image: RNT Foundation
What’s new: Discussion in Parliament about the UK’s PNT approach.
Why it’s important: The UK is the first western government to take a whole-of-government, system-of-systems approach to resilient PNT.
What else to know:
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France is joining the UK in its eLoran program and may be incorporating clocks, fiber, and other systems for their own infrastructure. We would not be surprised to see other nations join as well.
- We are glad to see the UK recognizing this as a critical national security issue. From the article:
“Due to the risk of compromising operational security, it would be inappropriate for us to provide any further details on the specific investigations that the Department is undertaking.”
UK outlines alternative navigation tech under study
The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that four technologies are being prioritised to provide alternatives to satellite-based navigation, in a written parliamentary answer published on 16 September.
Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty asked the Defence Secretary what Alternative Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) technologies were under investigation by the Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) Space Delivery Team.
Responding, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said: “To ensure that Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) capabilities are resilient when satellite systems are unavailable or have been compromised, the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) DE&S Space Delivery Team is focused on developing four initial key technology innovations, these include: developing Enhanced Long-Range Navigation (eLoran) capabilities, exploring and utilising Satellite Signals of Opportunity (SATSOO), investigating Chip Scale Atomic Clocks (CSAC) and exploring the applications of Data Fusion.”
