Advanced Navigation has secured a €16 million supply agreement with KONGSBERG to integrate hundreds of its Boreas Fibre-Optic Gyroscope Inertial Navigation Systems into counter-unmanned aerial systems platforms.
Under the deal, Advanced Navigation will supply its Boreas Fibre-Optic Gyroscope (FOG) Inertial Navigation System (INS) for integration into KONGSBERG’s PROTECTOR Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) platforms. Manufactured in Norway, the PROTECTOR platforms will be delivered to the Polish Armaments Agency as part of a NOK 16 billion (about €1.45 billion) agreement to protect the country against evolving air threats. This collaboration follows a previous multi-million dollar agreement in which Advanced Navigation provided its Boreas D90 FOG INS for integration into KONGSBERG’s PROTECTOR RS4 platform.
Modern air defence operations face two defining challenges: economic sustainability and electromagnetic warfare. Defending against thousands of low-cost attack drones with interceptors costing millions of dollars per shot is financially unsustainable. Furthermore, GPS jamming and spoofing have become widespread in modern combat zones, degrading defence systems that rely on satellite navigation to initialize, stabilize, and accurately engage targets.
Together, KONGSBERG and Advanced Navigation address both vulnerabilities. The PROTECTOR platform delivers a low-cost-per-engagement C-UAS capability, while the Boreas FOG INS ensures continued operation when satellite navigation can no longer be trusted. Utilizing real-time sensor fusion algorithms to interpret and filter critical data under physical and electronic stress, the system maintains positioning, orientation, and heading to provide a resilient source of truth.
David Leniewski, Head of EMEA at Advanced Navigation, said, “As electromagnetic warfare becomes a defining feature of modern conflict, precision is no longer determined by arsenals or sensors alone. It depends on knowing exactly where the platform is, how it is moving and maintaining that accuracy even when GPS is denied. That’s where Boreas becomes mission-critical.
“By providing a resilient source of positioning, orientation and stabilisation independent of satellite navigation, Boreas enables PROTECTOR to maintain accurate sensor alignment and target engagement under conditions that would degrade conventional navigation systems. It ensures operators retain confidence in every engagement, even in the most heavily contested electromagnetic environments.
“Together, PROTECTOR and Boreas deliver a layered C-UAS capability that is both economically sustainable and operationally resilient. One provides the proven kinetic effect; the other ensures that effect can still be delivered when the battlespace is actively trying to deny it.”
Jørgen Andreas Bull, senior vice president, land systems, KONGSBERG, stated, “Modern threats do not observe fixed boundaries, and countering them requires a fundamental evolution in platform survivability. By integrating Advanced Navigation’s inertial navigation technology into our PROTECTOR C-UAS platforms, we are providing forces with a resilient capability that continues when GPS is denied. Whether protecting tactical land convoys from asymmetric attack, safeguarding critical airfields, or defending coastal naval assets against uncrewed swarms, this partnership delivers the reliable, multi-spectrum resilience modern forces demand.”
Today, KONGSBERG PROTECTOR systems equipped with Advanced Navigation technology are deployed across infantry fighting vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, naval vessels, and uncrewed ground vehicles. Supported by the Australian Department of Defence’s Global Supply Chain (GSC) Program, this agreement highlights how deep-tech disruptors integrate into international defence manufacturing networks.
Leniewski, added, “Unlike legacy PNT suppliers burdened by years-long lead times, Advanced Navigation’s vertically integrated production facilities enable full internal component sourcing, environmental stress-testing, and simulated EW validation prior to delivery. This streamlined capability ensures rapid, high-volume production and delivery timelines as European defence ministries work to fulfil urgent procurement schedules.”
