iXblue and its Spanish representative GRAFINTA have signed a contract with GMV to provide critical navigation for all Spanish Army 8×8 VCR Dragón vehicles.
The contract covers the delivery of over 240 Advans Series Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), namely Ursa U5 and Vega V5, with a first batch due in early 2022.
Based on the General Dynamics European Land Systems 8×8 Piranha 5 combat wheeled vehicles, the Dragón is a state-of-the-art system, equipped with the most advanced technologies. This program is a major component of the Spanish Army’s plan to gear up in order to ensure future effectiveness. GMV as contractor of the navigation system will integrate iXblue systems with GMV’s technology in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and navigation algorithms.
Ursa U5 is the only cost-effective, north finding and easy to integrate INS for military land vehicles, allowing it to be fitted on an entire fleet. Vega V5, on the other hand, is a higher performance INS designed for both navigation and pointing applications. Both INS are based on iXblue’s Fiber-Optic Gyroscope technology, providing high- performance and resilient navigation everywhere, including in GNSS-denied environments.
“iXblue is honored to have both GMV and the Spanish Army’s trust for such an important program,” says Carlos Lopes, sales manager at iXblue. “Our INS will provide accurate, secure, and resilient navigation and position information to the vehicles.”
“We are humbled to be a partner of the Spanish Armed Forces in the resilient navigation domain. These successes are a source of pride for all of our teams and, we hope, the beginning of a fruitful and close cooperation,” added Mr. Lopes.
