항공무장 노스롭, GPS 방해 환경에서 사용 가능한 항공기 탑재 항법장비 시험

[위종민]

노스롭 그루먼이 6월 27일, 지난 5월 M코드 수신 가능한 GPS 항법장비 시험에 성공했다고 발표했습니다. 랩터와 E-2D에 먼저 탑재되고 추후 다른 기체에도 설치될 예정입니다. 

M코드는 high-gain 지향성 안테나를 사용해 GPS 블록III 위성에서 쏴주는 전파방해방지 GPS 신호라고 합니다. 넓은 지역에 전파를 뿌려주는 일반 GPS 신호에 비해 지향성을 갖고 있어 전파방해에 덜 민감하고, 또 암호화돼 ( GPS가 잘못된 위치를 표기하게 만드는  ) GPS 스푸핑 공격을 당할 가능성을 낮춘다고 하네요. 

https://www.airandspaceforces.com/northrop-grumman-navigation-system-contested-airspace 

Pre-flight preparations aboard Northrop Grumman’s testbed for its advanced airborne navigation system. Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman

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Northrop Tests Navigation System for Contested Airspace That Will Go on F-22

June 27, 2023 | By John A. Tirpak

Northrop Grumman revealed June 27 that it has successfully tested an advanced air navigation system to allow aircraft to operate in contested, GPS-jammed or -denied airspace. The system will be deployed on Air Force F-22 fighters and Navy E-2D Hawkeye airborne warning and control aircraft, with other platforms to follow.

The system, called EGI-M for Embedded GPS Inertial Navigation System Modernization, was tested in May aboard a Cessna Citation 560 test aircraft. The flight marked the first time the system has been tested with an M-code-capable receiver.

M-code is a jam-resistant GPS signal that can be beamed at target areas from GPS Block III satellites using their high-gain directional antennae. The signals are more powerfully focused, and thus less susceptible to jamming, than general GPS signals, which broadcast over a wide geographical area. M-Code also allows blue force tracking systems to continue to follow U.S. military signals even when general GPS is being jammed in an area. The M-code signals are also encrypted to further reduce the chance of spoofing.

When fully operational, the EGI-M system “will feature a modular platform interface, designed to easily integrate with current platform navigation systems, supporting advanced software and hardware technology updates now and in the future,” a release from Northrop stated.

Precise navigation is critical both for avoiding known threats and putting ordnance on target at a specific time. Adversary airspace is expected to be GPS-jammed, so advanced navigation systems rely on several methods—GPS, inertial navigation, timing, and other, classified techniques, to ascertain precise location.

Northrop’s EGI-M prototype, dubbed the LN-351 system, uses GPS/INS with fiber optic gyro technology and performed at the same level of the LN-251, Northrop’s current GPS navigation system, but with the added M-code capability. Northrop began engineering and manufacturing development of EGI-M in 2018, and critical design review was completed in September 2020.  The system has been selected for use with “additional fixed-wing and rotary-wing platforms” across the U.S. military services and allied forces, Northrop said.

The EGI-M is an open-architecture system, which will allow insertion of third-party technology without compromising the system’s cyber security and airworthiness, according to Northrop’s website.

“This flight test is a major step forward in developing our next generation airborne navigation system,” Ryan Arrington, vice president of navigation and cockpit systems at Northrop, said in a statement.

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[백선호]

일본 C-2 개조 스탠드오프 재머는 위에도 안테나가 있는데 혹시나 우주의 중국 항법 위성을 향해 방해전파를 쏘려나요???

http://cafe.daum.net/NTDS/515G/3404

[위종민]

베이더우나 위성을 통한 비가시선 통신 재밍 용도일 수도 있겠네요.

[엽군]

재머에 방해 전파 쏴 봐야... -.-;

[엽군]

Code는 암호화 코드의 종류로 이해하면 됩니다. 기존 코드에 M이 추가되고, 거기에 몇 가지 기술이 더 붙는 상황인데... 저기에서 끝낼지 더 갈지가 관건 입니다.