Army approves first assured PNT requirement

The Army's Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing Cross-Functional Team announced today the approval of the service's first ever PNT requirement, the Mounted Assured PNT System Capability Development Document.

MAPS, an anti-jamming capability for soldiers in global positioning system-contested environments, "simplifies the Army's mounted PNT capability by distributing PNT data to multiple systems, eliminating the need for multiple [GPS] devices on a single platform, while allowing multiple users to access an assured GPS signal, and other sources of PNT, from one central point," according to a Sept. 16 press release.

The CDD requirement approval will lead the way for an Army Program of Record to develop and field an advanced PNT capability to soldiers.

“Throughout the requirement approval process, our priority was to ensure that our soldiers get the capabilities and systems they need to operate successfully on the battlefield,” Willie Nelson, director of the APNT CFT, said in a statement. “Our ability to streamline and expedite the requirement process is a success story for the Army’s modernization strategy, getting advanced, modernized technologies to our soldiers rapidly."

The Army in 2019 started fielding the first generation of MAPS, which includes anti-jam antennas, to soldiers with the 2nd Cavalry Division in Europe and equipped more than 60 Stryker vehicles with the capability.

Soldiers are continuing to provide feedback on the equipment and the service is “currently testing vendor prototypes and will select the next generation device for final development and production,” the press release states.

A vendor for phase three of the second generation of MAPS, which will focus on product maturation, is expected to be selected by the end of this month.

Col. Nickolas Kioutas, project manager for PNT, told reporters Sept. 11 during a telephone roundtable the service envisions the C4ISR/Electronic Warfare Modular Open Suite of Standards, or CMOSS, to be the third generation of MAPs.

A CMOSS chassis, which Kioutas said acts as a “receptacle” to put capabilities into which allow the service to swap out ones that aren’t working, is currently in a prototyping phase. The system will act as a plug-and-play model, where the service can replace pieces instead of an entire system.

Kioutas said a CMOSS chassis was integrated onto a Stryker platform with a PNT card and an anti-jamming antenna during a recent test at White Sands Missile Range, NM. The results of the test are still being assessed.

“MAPS is expected to continue fielding through 2028 and will take place in USAREUR and U.S. Army Pacific,” the press release states.