The US Army is one step closer to reducing its reliance on GPS after the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) successfully tested magnetic navigation (MagNav) in a real-world flight environment.
Installed aboard an Embraer 170, MagNav provided positioning data during a round trip over the Pacific Ocean from Seattle’s Puget Sound to southern Alaska.
The technology improved positioning accuracy by 89 percent over traditional backup navigation methods during the four-hour, 23-minute GPS-free flight.
During the flight, pilots viewed the navigation data in real time on standard tablets, showing that the technology could be fielded without requiring a major cockpit redesign.
By demonstrating accurate navigation without GPS, the test marks a step toward keeping military and commercial aircraft on course when satellite signals are disrupted or unavailable.
“This is a significant win for the department’s quantum sensing priorities, showcasing that MagNav capabilities are no longer a distant research goal,” said Kyle Norman, deputy director of DIU’s Kill Web portfolio.
“We moved from problem sourcing to solicitation to prototype in a matter of months.”
MagNav is scheduled for its next test aboard a US military C-17 Globemaster III later this year.
Unjammable Navigation
Using quantum sensors, MagNav maps the natural magnetic signatures of Earth’s crust to provide navigation without relying on GPS, daylight, or favorable weather.
Unlike legacy backup methods that use radar mapping or visual references such as rivers, highways, and cities, MagNav relies on Earth’s magnetic field, which cannot be spoofed or blocked by hostile forces.
It uses magnetometers, highly sensitive instruments that detect subtle variations in Earth’s magnetic field caused by magnetic rocks beneath the surface.
The program began in 2024 under the “Transition of Quantum Sensing” effort. DIU received applications from 72 companies before selecting Honeywell Aerospace to develop the prototype.
