DIU, Honeywell Aerospace flight-test quantum sensing technology for aircraft navigation

The Defense Innovation Unit and its industry partner Honeywell Aerospace recently flight-tested quantum sensing technology as the Pentagon pursues new navigation capabilities that aren’t dependent on GPS.

According to a Sept. 4 announcement, the test involved a magnetic navigation (MagNav) system that was installed on an Embraer 170 jet that made a round-trip journey over the Pacific Ocean between Seattle’s Puget Sound and southern Alaska.

“After four hours and 23 minutes of flying over the ocean without GPS, the MagNav system improved position accuracy by 89% compared to traditional backup navigation methods. The navigation data streamed directly to the pilots in real time via standard tablets, showing that military personnel can field the technology without a massive overhaul of cockpit instruments,” officials wrote in a DIU news release.

Honeywell Aerospace told DefenseScoop that the tests occurred the week of June 22.

“This is a significant win for the department’s quantum sensing priorities, showcasing that MagNav capabilities are no longer a distant research goal,” Kyle Norman, deputy director of DIU’s “Kill Web” portfolio, said in a statement.

Later this year, the unit and Honeywell plan to flight-test the system on a U.S. military C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane, according to the release.

Officials are putting the MagNav tech through its paces amid concerns that potential adversaries could degrade the U.S. military’s GPS capabilities during a conflict or periods of tension, via jamming or other attacks on satellites. The Pentagon wants alternative position, navigation and timing tools to make American forces more resilient against those types of threats.

“MagNav systems use quantum sensors to read the Earth’s natural magnetic field, turning the planet’s crust into an invisible, unjammable map that allows pilots to navigate safely regardless of weather, time of day or GPS availability,” officials wrote in the DIU news release.

“By proving that aircraft can maintain pinpoint accuracy over the featureless ocean without GPS, the War Department is taking a significant step toward ensuring that military and commercial pilots can safely reach their destinations, no matter what happens to the satellite networks above them,” they added, using the Trump administration’s preferred name for the Department of Defense.

The MagNav capability stems from a DIU program that launched in 2024 during the Biden administration called Transition of Quantum Sensing, for which Honeywell was tapped for prototype development, according to the release.

“Honeywell Aerospace has been advancing magnetic navigation, or MagNav, for several years, and this test is the latest in a series of successful demonstrations that continue to validate the technology’s performance in operationally relevant environments. Honeywell Aerospace’s contribution includes advanced navigation algorithms, signal-processing capabilities that help mitigate magnetic interference, and the high-accuracy magnetic mapping required to support reliable navigation. Together, these capabilities help provide resilient positioning, navigation and timing capabilities in environments where GPS may be unavailable or degraded,” Ben Mohr, director of alternate navigation offerings at Honeywell Aerospace, said in a statement to DefenseScoop.

MagNav is a component of Honeywell’s Alternative Navigation Architecture (HANA), which the company describes as a software-defined framework designed to support resilient navigation in environments where GPS is denied or degraded.

“Because HANA can integrate multiple alternative navigation sources, including magnetic navigation, computer vision and low-Earth-orbit satellite signals, it provides a flexible architecture that can be tailored to a wide range of platforms and mission requirements. The approach is designed to support both defense and commercial aircraft while enabling customers to adapt as new navigation technologies emerge,” Mohr said in a statement to DefenseScoop.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is also pushing ahead with other quantum-related initiatives.

For example, in June President Donald Trump signed an executive order on “Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation,” which called for accelerating the deployment and commercialization of quantum computing, sensing, and networking capabilities.

The following day, the Pentagon announced the launch of an effort to transition mature quantum sensing and timing technologies to the military that could boost its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. At the time, officials said the department planned to invest up to $200 million within the next year to support the initiative.

“This pivot represents a fundamental shift away from the limitations of classical Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensors. By harnessing the unique properties of quantum physics, this project is set to shatter the longstanding ‘sensitivity-SWaP’ (Size, Weight and Power) trade-off, unlocking unprecedented situational awareness for aerial, surface and subsurface missions in electromagnetically contested environments,” department officials wrote in a June 23 press release.