GPS World

Tag: Spanish navy

  • Hexagon partners with Navantia for Spanish Navy combat system

    Hexagon partners with Navantia for Spanish Navy combat system

    Navantia has selected Luciad — Hexagon’s platform for building advanced location intelligence and real-time situational awareness applications — to equip the combat system of five future F-110 frigates for the Spanish Navy.

    The agreement will also cover corresponding tests, validations and simulation environments, according to Hexagon’s Geospatial division.

    Navantia and the Spanish Ministry of Defense signed a contract for the construction of the F-110 frigates in April 2019.

    Starting in 2016, Hexagon’s Luciad was subjected to the strictest technical benchmarks by Navantia and the Spanish Navy, along with other comparable geospatial technologies on the market. Luciad surpassed the competition to secure the partnership.

    Since then, Navantia has developed initial versions of the combat system, which integrates sensors, nautical cartography, AIS tracks and more.

    “We are proud to support Navantia and the Spanish Navy,” said Jose Luis Peinado, vice president of Hexagon’s Geospatial division. “This partnership represents another step of our expansion in the defense market and is recognition of Hexagon as a leader in geospatial software for mission-critical environments, where robustness and high performance are key.”

    As part of the new partnership, Navantia will join a growing list of systems integrators and defense ministries, including NATO, that have chosen Luciad as the engine for command and control, air defense, border surveillance, combat systems, intelligence and more.

    Luciad enables intuitive and interactive map-centric views for aviation, smart cities and defense. It can connect to any database and more than 200 data formats, including real-time data with domain-specific standards. Users can guarantee the highest accuracy, as well as visualize situations in 2D and 3D with rich and flexible styling options.

    Feature image: Screenshot: Navantia

  • GMV’s navigation system chosen for Spain’s new F-110 frigates

    GMV’s navigation system chosen for Spain’s new F-110 frigates

    The F-110 frigate being developed for the Spanish Navy. (Artist's concept: Spanish Ministry of Defense)
    The F-110 frigate being developed for the Spanish Navy. (Artist’s concept: Spanish Ministry of Defense)

    The technology multinational GMV has signed a contract with Spanish corporation Navantia to develop and supply its SENDA navigation system for the future F-110 frigates.

    The F-110 frigates represent a technological leap forward in platform systems and its combat system, incorporating Industry 4.0 technologies to improve lifecycle-long system management.

    The various F-110 systems call for a continuous, precise, and trustworthy positioning, speed and attitude source. With this purpose in mind, SENDA incorporates multi-constellation (GPS and Galileo) satellite navigation technology compatible with both civil and military signals, plus differential GNSS corrections. It combines its GNSS navigation data with data received from external sensors, such as inertial navigation systems (INS) and pitometer logs. It includes state-of-the-art algorithms to provide robust navigation in contested GNSS scenarios.

    SENDA also includes a timing server that generates highly precise and stable timing signals, allowing the ship’s systems to synchronize with GPS time. SENDA guarantees timing-reference stability and negligible drift, even during prolonged periods of GPS downtime.

    SENDA is a redundant system with two complete functional subsystems working in active-active configuration, together with redundant GNSS signal distribution. Both systems, monitored in real time, exchange information to provide the overall system with the best possible solution.

    GMV has experience in aeronautics, land and naval sectors with platforms such as the Atlante tactical long-endurance UAV, the 8×8 Dragon ground vehicle and now the F-110 frigates.

    GMV worked with the Spanish Ministry of Defense MoD to develop a system prototype during the F-110 definition phase. The future F-110 frigates will replace the current Santa María class frigates starting in 2026.

  • Silent watchers over Somalia

    The Spanish navy is using UAVs for intelligence operations on the northern and eastern coasts of Somalia to locate possible illegal activities. This past summer, the navy used the Scan Eagle unmanned air system during Operation Atalanta, a European Union mission combating piracy in the Indian Ocean.

    The Scan Eagle system, deployed from the amphibious assault ship Galicia, produced valuable intelligence for the Naval Force of the European Union (EUNAVFOR). The system consists of four aircraft, one of which is designed to acquire night images.

    The New Spanish Armada: Sailors onboard Galicia in the Indian Ocean prepare to launch a Scan Eagle on a surveillance mission. (Photos: Spanish Ministry of Defense)
    The New Spanish Armada: Sailors onboard Galicia in the Indian Ocean prepare to launch a Scan Eagle on a surveillance mission. (Photos: Spanish Ministry of Defense)

    The Scan Eagle is launched via a catapult, and lands by means of a pole, into which the aircraft is “locked.” A set of antennas sends and receives information between the control station and the UAV.

    The system can operate continuously for more than 18 hours at a stretch, collecting data, images and video both day and night.

    During Operation Atalanta, the Scan Eagles completed more than 175 flight hours, collecting imagery for more than 11 hours without being detected and providing command with real-time images of possible targets.

    The UAV system was also deployed in Afghanistan, where it operated from the advanced support base of Qala i Naw until the withdrawal of the Spanish contingent in 2013.

    The mission represents a milestone for the Spanish navy — the first remotely piloted aircraft operating successfully from a navy vessel.

    Night eyes: One of the four UAVs deployed was equipped for night imagery.
    Night eyes: One of the four UAVs deployed was equipped for night imagery. (Photo: Spanish Ministry of Defense)
    Control Station: From the ship’s hangar, the UAV is controlled by operators of the new 11th aircraft squadron of the Spanish Navy.
    Control Station: From the ship’s hangar, the UAV is controlled by operators of the new 11th aircraft squadron of the Spanish Navy. (Photo: Spanish Ministry of Defense)