GPS World

Tag: Spanish Army

  • GMV begins production of navigation system for Spanish army

    GMV begins production of navigation system for Spanish army

    Photo: GMV
    Photo: GMV

    GMV will supply its advanced navigation and timing solution to the Spanish Army, providing positioning information on armored vehicles with or without GNSS signals.

    The 8×8 Dragón wheeled combat vehicle (WCV, or VCR in Spanish) will use GMV’s ISNAV system. GMV signed a contract with TESS Defence in August 2020 for €2.1 billion. The contract will equip 240 Dragóns with ISNAVs. GMV plans to produce the ISNAV units at its manufacturing facilities in Tres Cantos, which opened in 2019. The first units will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2023.

    The ISNAV system was developed by GMV as part of the VCR 8×8 Technology Program. It meets the demanding requirements of the program and has successfully passed both the mission system integration tests, and the functional tests installed on several demonstration units.

    The ISNAV was designed to be modular equipment that can be adapted to various vehicle configurations, sensors and receivers. It includes the option of including Galileo PRS to provide advanced PNT (positioning, navigation and timing) capabilities, making it possible to determine the position of the vehicle in all kinds of scenarios, including scenarios without a GNSS signal.

    Photo: Spanish Ministry of Defence
    Photo: Spanish Ministry of Defence
  • Spanish elite units first to receive GMV Seeker drones

    Spanish elite units first to receive GMV Seeker drones

    Photo: Spanish Armed Forces/GMV
    Photo: Spanish Armed Forces/GMV

    The Spanish Army and Navy have received the first Seeker Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) from GMV and Aurea Avionics. The unmanned aircraft is designed to boost the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of two elite forces, the Spanish Army’s 6th Almogávares Paratroopers Brigade and the Marine Infantry Protection Force.

    Seeker has a 90-minute endurance and 15-km range, and weighs 3.5 kg. The UAV’s design and manufacture in Spain proved crucial during the COVID-19 epidemic, with the manufacture, test flights and delivery of the aircraft all performed within the project deadlines.

    In the final phase of the project, intensive training courses took place on the Madrid site of Aurea Avionics and the Los Alijares Firing and Maneuvering Range (CMT) of Toledo. There, future Seeker users put the RPAS through its paces with mission simulations, engaged in vehicle-tracking exercises and learned about  its theoretical and practical uses.

    Seeker will provide BRIPAC (Paratrooper Brigade) and BRIMAR (Marine Infantry Brigade) with real-time thermal-infrared and visible-spectrum video, augmented by metadata that can be mined by the operators and remotely by the command-and-control centers.

    New digitized ground-station architecture makes Seeker compatible with NATO’s standard command centers. This means any allied force will be able to integrate the aircraft into its fleet and command centers, ensuring joint operability between all troops and systems.

    The RPAS is financed by the Subdirectorate General of Planning, Technology and Innovation of the Directorate General of Armaments and Material.