Honeywell Aerospace launched Kestrel on June 17, a compact navigation system designed for uncrewed platforms operating where GPS signals are degraded, jammed or spoofed. The system targets Group 2 and 3 collaborative combat aircraft and loitering munitions — the weight classes increasingly central to contested operations — and is also applicable to crewed platforms where size, weight, power and cost are limiting factors.

Kestrel is an Embedded GNSS/INS system that combines Honeywell’s HG3900 MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit with an M-code receiver and a multi-GNSS receiver. The company describes it as 40 percent smaller and lighter than comparable navigation products, with up to 80 percent better navigation accuracy and cost reductions of up to 50 percent. Honeywell attributes a 60 percent reduction in UAS attrition and more than doubled mission distances to the system’s resilience — figures drawn from company testing without cited methodology.

“Kestrel reflects the evolving needs of today’s uncrewed operations, where operators are looking for resilient navigation technology that is smaller, lighter and more cost-effective,” said Matt Picchetti, vice president and general manager of Navigation & Sensors at Honeywell Aerospace. The system will be available in configurations supporting international and non-ITAR deployments.