L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL) won a four-year contract from the U.S. Army to create GPS capabilities to its fielded Improved Position and Azimuth Determining Systems (IPADS) equipment.
According the Department of Defense, “IPADS is a high-performance, highly accurate system used for precision surveying and navigational requirements on today’s battlefield. Under the contract, L-3 will design, implement and test Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) GPS receivers, antennas and cables into all fielded IPADS equipment. The GPS-equipped systems will be known as IPADS-G.”
The firm feels that adding GPS will create a great improvement for survey operations.
“This award confirms the exceptional reliability and high accuracy of the IPADS equipment in use by the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps, ” said Paul Wengen, president of L-3 Space & Navigation. “The addition of an embedded, tightly coupled GPS capability will provide an excellent performance enhancement for long-distance precision survey operations by keeping the soldier on the move, while retaining a high level of inertial precision for GPS-denied conditions.”
