US Navy adopts M-Code GPS for aircraft
Northrop Grumman's M-code-capable LN-251 INS/GPS. (Northrop Grumman)
US Navy officials and their counterparts at Northrop Grumman have begun integrating military code (M-Code)-enabled GPS capability into the sea service's rotary- and fixed-wing fleet, according to a company statement.
Service leaders selected Northrop Grumman's LN-251M inertial navigation system (INS)/GPS to replace the legacy LN-251 INS/GPS currently aboard navy aircraft, company officials said in a 4 February statement.
The biggest upgrade in the LN-251M's makeup, compared with the LN-251 system, is the addition of M-Code capability – a first for airborne navigation systems deployed by the navy.
The new M-Code-enabled INS/GPS airborne receiver is also capable of transmitting across three different signal modes via the system's fibre-optic gyroscope (FOG). Location transmissions can be sent and received exclusively in INS and GPS but can also be transmitted in a blended signal of INS and GPS, according to the company statement.
The LN-251 FOG employs three independent navigation solutions – blended INS/GPS, INS-only, and GPS-only.
The new M-Code-capable INS/GPS platform has been engineered to integrate into current navy aircraft fielding the legacy LN-25, as well as to “perform cohesively with future software and GPS modernisation upgrades”, according to the statement. The LN-251 system entered full-rate production in 2003. The ground forces variant, the LN-270 INS/GPS, is currently deployed with US Army units.
The addition of M-Code capability into the LN-251 system will provide “enhanced robustness to counter GPS signal degradation, enabling pilots greater ability to effectively operate” in GPS-contested or denied environments, company officials said in the statement.
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