The Army has awarded Collins Aerospace [RTX] a five-year deal, worth up to $583 million, to deliver the newest version of the Mounted Assured Positioning Navigation Timing Systems (MAPS) capability, the service said on Thursday.
The deal for MAPS Gen II begins with a $68.6 million procurement order to Collins, according to a Pentagon contracts announcement on Sept. 6.
“MAPS ensures access to modernized military GPS and fuses additional sources of PNT to include timing and alternate navigation technologies,” Lt. Col. Andrew Johnston, the Army’s Product Manager Mounted Assured PNT, said in a statement. “Assured PNT is a critical enabling capability to Multi-Domain Operations and Army 2030, setting conditions for soldiers to fight and win.”
Collins also provided the first generation of MAPS technology, which was equipped on over 60 Stryker vehicles in Europe, before receiving a deal in October 2020 to begin developing the next iteration of the technology as the Army moved toward a program of record (Defense Daily, Sept. 16 2020).
“Real world testing in the competitive phase of the MAPS program has proven that the MAPS Gen II system raises the bar for Assured PNT performance when GPS is challenged or denied,” Ryan Bunge, Collins’ vice president and general manager for communication, navigation and guidance, said in a statement. “Collins’ long history in guidance and navigation has helped us bring MAPS Gen II into production as quickly as possible, and our world-class manufacturing capability will continue providing America’s warfighters with the best protection available.”
The Army has previously described MAPS as an anti-jamming capability designed to allow soldiers to continue operating seamlessly in GPS-contested environments, as well as “allowing multiple users to access an assured GPS signal, and other sources of PNT, from one central point.”
MAPS Gen II capabilities are set to be integrated on Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, Paladin self-propelled howitzers, Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, Humvees and new platforms such as Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles, Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense systems and the Indirect Fire Protection Capability, according to the Army.
Collins’ noted its MAPS Gen II solution consists of its NavHub-100 navigation system and Multi-Sensor Antenna System-100, which it said “brings the highest level of protection against the most severe and evolving PNT threats to support multi-domain operations and mitigate the evolving electronic threats that warfighters are facing today and will face into the future.”
MAPS Gen II is also interoperable with Collins’ PRC-162 manpack radio, the company noted.
“Warfighters can navigate through high-threat environments with the confidence of knowing where they are, where they need to go, at the precise time with weapons on target,” the company said.