IN Brief:
- Collins Aerospace has awarded BAE Systems $16 million to develop the M-Code GPS element of JPALS.
- DIGAR-500M will support dual SAASM and M-Code operation while strengthening anti jam and anti spoof resilience.
- Engineering and manufacturing work on BAE Systems military GPS equipment is based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
BAE Systems has received a $16 million contract from Collins Aerospace to design and develop an M-Code GPS solution for the US Navy’s Joint Precision Approach and Landing System, using the company’s DIGAR-500M receiver to strengthen navigation resilience during carrier landings.
JPALS provides precision approach and landing guidance for aircraft operating from aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships. The system uses protected GPS, shipboard equipment and encrypted communications to maintain the positioning accuracy required as an aircraft approaches a moving deck in poor visibility and other demanding conditions.
BAE Systems already supplies the GPS element used in the current JPALS configuration, which relies on Selective Availability Anti Spoofing Module receivers. Under the new award, the company will develop the transition to M-Code while retaining dual SAASM and M-Code operation, allowing mixed aircraft configurations to be supported during the changeover.
The upgrade will use DIGAR-500M, a digital GPS anti jam receiver designed to improve assured positioning, navigation and timing when satellite signals are being jammed or spoofed. BAE Systems says the equipment can generate up to 24 simultaneous steered beams, using digital beamforming to reject interference while maintaining reception of authorised signals.
Work on the company’s military GPS equipment is carried out at its engineering and manufacturing facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The JPALS award therefore adds a defined development programme to an established navigation electronics operation rather than creating a separate production facility for the carrier landing system.
M-Code is the US military’s encrypted GPS signal and is intended to provide greater resistance to interference than earlier protected services. For JPALS, the change affects a safety critical landing architecture rather than a standalone navigation aid, so integration has to preserve the accuracy, integrity and availability required during an approach.
Carrier aviation creates a difficult radio frequency environment even before deliberate interference is considered. Large warships operate multiple radars, communications systems and electronic warfare equipment, while a deployed force must also account for jamming and spoofing intended to degrade satellite navigation.
Anti jam performance therefore has to be integrated with the wider landing system. Receiver hardware, antennas, timing, software interfaces and data links all contribute to the guidance chain, and changes to one element have to be verified against the response of the complete architecture.
The decision to support both SAASM and M-Code is also an integration measure. It allows the Navy to manage a transition across aircraft and shipboard configurations without requiring every compatible platform to change at the same time, but the system still has to deliver predictable performance across both protected GPS standards.
The $16 million contract covers design and development rather than a disclosed fleetwide production quantity. BAE Systems has not announced when operational M-Code JPALS installations will enter service, so the immediate programme is centred on engineering, integration and qualification before a broader production decision.
The work sits within a wider shift towards more resilient military positioning, navigation and timing. Electronic warfare has increased the requirement for systems that can continue operating when conventional satellite reception is unreliable, placing additional emphasis on anti jam antennas, inertial systems, protected signals and alternative timing sources.
That pressure is visible beyond carrier aviation. Recent work on GNSS resilience has highlighted the growing dependence of military and critical infrastructure systems on satellite derived timing and navigation, making layered PNT protection an increasingly important engineering requirement.
For JPALS, however, the requirement is unusually immediate. A degraded receiver during a carrier approach affects a system operating with tight positional tolerances, a moving landing surface and limited time for recovery. The benefit of M-Code therefore depends on how well the new receiver is integrated into the complete precision landing chain rather than on receiver specifications alone.
Manufacturing repeatability will follow the same logic. DIGAR-500M combines specialist radio frequency electronics, digital processing and controlled software, while the Cedar Rapids operation has to support development hardware, qualification units and any later production under military assurance requirements.
BAE Systems programme manager Molly O’Brien said the M-Code integration is intended to strengthen JPALS against evolving threats while preserving precision aircraft recovery in all weather and operating environments. The company’s existing role in JPALS gives the development programme an established baseline, but the transition still has to demonstrate that added resilience does not compromise the timing, accuracy or integrity expected from the current system.
The contract now moves that work into a defined engineering phase. Qualification results, transition planning and any follow-on production award will show how quickly the Navy can convert the M-Code upgrade from a development activity into an operational change across the carrier landing system.
