GPS World, May 2016

DEFENSEUPDATE KVH Delivers TACNAV Systems for US Armys New AMPV Fleet K VH Industries has begun shipping the first order of tactical navigation systems to BAE Systems for a prototype program designed to produce a new fleet of U S Army Armored Multi Purpose Vehicles AMPVs KVHs TACNAV systems are designed to provide the vehicles with such critical elements as continuous heading and pointing data output and extremely accurate navigation regardless of GPS availability Deliveries of the tactical navigation systems are part of a recent purchase order that covers the life of the program which is expected to run through 2020 Prototypes The initial order of 34 TACNAV II systems is supporting prototype vehicles and there is potential for an option for additional systems to support the low rate initial production or LRIP of the vehicles According to BAE Systems the 12 billion AMPV program is designed to replace the U S Armys Vietnam era M113s and provide a significant upgrade that increases the services survivability force protection and mobility while providing for future growth potential KVH is pleased to have been selected by BAE Systems for this important U S Army armored vehicle program said Dan Conway executive vice president of KVHs guidance and stabilization group KVHs tactical navigation solution serves as a crucial resource for navigation and battle management keeping soldiers safe and out of harms way wherever they travel The KVH TACNAV has been serving soldiers for years in numerous armored vehicle programs with more than 19000 units fielded worldwide KVH said Unjammable KVHs TACNAV military vehicle navigation systems provide unjammable precision navigation to vehicle drivers crews and commanders KVHs proprietary fiber optic gyro FOG technology is a differentiating factor in enabling the TACNAV systems to provide extremely accurate heading and pointing data which is crucial for situational awareness The systems feature a compact design and flexible architecture which work well for todays digital military 44 GPS WORLD WWW GPSWORLD COM MAY 2016 The AMPV bottom is the U S Armys program to replace the Vietnam era M113 armored personnel carrier top 1966 Photos U S Army BAE Systems In addition TACNAV is designed to integrate easily with battle management systems providing a vital component for effective battlefield management TACNAV systems are in use by the U S Army and Marine Corps as well as many allied customers including Canada Sweden Great Britain France Germany Spain Egypt Botswana Australia New Zealand Saudi Arabia Taiwan Romania Poland Turkey Malaysia Switzerland South Korea Singapore Brazil and Italy The TACNAV IIs fiber optic gyro FOG technology aids in situational awareness