The US Army’s Program Manager for Position Navigation and Timing (PM PNT) soon expects to solicit proposals for its Next Generation Mounted Assured PNT Capability (NorthStar) program via the CMG C5 Consortium.
According to the problem statement from PM PNT, “Adversary GPS denial and deception efforts pose unique challenges to systems and platforms dependent on GPS for positioning, navigation and timing information. Ground-based units require the ability to effectively operate and navigate through a wide variety of challenging environments, including dense vegetation, urban, mountainous, subterranean and in the presence of electromagnetic interference or enemy jamming and spoofing efforts.”
It further states, “The ever-changing threat and advancement of capabilities and technologies requires an adaptive acquisition approach with a design that aligns to rapid incorporation of new technology and capability. Because PNT data is used across the Army, the platform solution must meet the requirements of multiple platform and mission sets and ensure maximum commonality to improve sustainment.”
The NorthStar effort could eventually become a follow-on program the Army’s current Mounted Assured PNT System (MAPS). MAPS Gen II, under contract to Collins Aerospace, entered full-rate production in December with a contract for 1,212 devices for US Army and US Marine Corps weapons systems.
White paper proposals for the NorthStar program will be solicited through the C5 Consortium (https://cmgcorp.org/c5/). The program points of contact are MAJ Tom Korzon, APM NorthStar, e-mail [email protected]; and Mr. Corrie James, Systems Engineer NorthStar, e-mail [email protected]. – J. Knowles
