Raytheon demonstrated, for the first time, a complete setup and execution of its Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) expeditionary variant during the week of 6 May.
A pair of demonstrations took place over two days at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, using US Navy (USN) Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft carrier variants. On the first day, Raytheon took JPALS from “zero” to fully operational in 70 minutes.
Raytheon plans to perform its second demonstration of its Joint Precision Approach Landing System (JPALS) expeditionary version in late 2019/early 2020. Pictured is the system in transit cases. (Raytheon)
CJ Jaynes, Raytheon executive technical adviser for precision landing, told Jane’s on 15 May that this included opening the JPALS transit cases, rolling out and setting up GPS antennas, activating the system, aligning it with satellites, and then landing the aircraft.
On the second day, the company set up the system and demonstrated it in 50 minutes. Jaynes said Raytheon usually advertises that JPALS expeditionary can be set up in 60–90 minutes, as even if a user minimised the time required to unpack the system, waiting for the satellites to sync takes the longest amount of time.
JPALS is an all-weather landing system based on differential GPS for land-based and sea-based aircraft, according to the USN. JPALS works with GPS to provide accurate, reliable, and high-integrity guidance for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.
The system features anti-jam protection to ensure mission continuity in hostile environments. JPALS is a differential GPS that will provide an adverse weather precision approach and landing capability.
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