Marine Corps looking for vendors to demo tech for mounted assured resilient navigation

The Marines are preparing to conduct technology demonstrations to inform the next phase of its Mounted Assured Resilient Navigation program, according to the Corps.

Plans are moving forward as the Defense Department seeks more robust tools to mitigate adversaries’ jamming tactics against GPS.

“All military services, including the Marine Corps, have been actively involved in Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)/Global Positioning System (GPS) modernization efforts that will culminate in the fielding of critical Assured PNT capabilities to their warfighters. These new capabilities will enable warfighters to benefit from enhanced PNT capabilities offered using Military Code (M-Code) GPS satellite signals, other signals of opportunity, and a variety of non-GPS sensors,” officials wrote in a request for information published Tuesday, soliciting vendors to participate in the demos.

The Mounted Assured Resilient Navigation, or MARNAV, initiative is Marine Corps Systems Command’s main acquisition effort to field modernized positioning, navigation and timing tools to ground vehicle platforms, according to the service.

“This program will incorporate an M-Code GPS capability along with additional PNT enablers/alternatives to provide a robust Navigation Warfare … compliant capability to the warfighters,” per the RFI.

The program is currently organized into two blocks. For block one, the Corps is leaning on an Army-developed capability, known as Mounted Assured PNT System (MAPS) Gen II, to meet its requirements. In addition to M-code, the system possesses a capability that “leverages a commercial satellite system to provide platforms with PNT information if GPS is compromised or unavailable,” according to a Government Accountability Office report on GPS modernization released in September 2024.

The Marines bought 357 of those systems in fiscal 2023 and planned to buy an additional 345 in fiscal 2024, per the report.

However, for block two, the Corps intends to pursue its own receivers to meet the service’s needs, GAO noted.

“Although subject to change, the current Acquisition Strategy to fulfill the Block 2 requirements is to conduct a full and open competition resulting in the award of a single Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The Government and the winning vendor may then enter the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) Phase of the program, and that contractual relationship may continue into system fielding and sustainment,” Marine Corps officials wrote in the RFI.

The tech demonstrations that the program manager for tactical communications and electromagnetic warfare systems is gearing up for are expected to help further define threshold and objective requirements for the program. The Corps is looking for companies to “demonstrate currently available, direct, drop-in, M-Code capable replacements” for the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver, per the RFI.

The demos are slated to be conducted at Naval Information Warfare Center–Atlantic in Charleston, South Carolina, between February and May.