Saab UK, Aquark Technologies and the Royal Navy have run a trial in which a network of military radars continued to produce a single air picture without relying on GPS for timing, using quantum clocks instead, the company stated.

The trial paired Saab’s Giraffe 1X radar with Aquark’s AQlock quantum timing technology and is believed to be a world first for a distributed high-performance military radar network holding a coherent picture on independent quantum timing sources. QinetiQ also took part, and the work was run with the Royal Navy’s Disruptive Capabilities and Technologies Office.

The problem it addresses is not obvious from outside the field. Radars in a network do not simply pool their contacts; combining tracks from sensors in different places requires each to know the time to within billionths of a second, because an error in timing translates directly into an error in position. That timing has traditionally come from satellite navigation signals, which are weak by the time they reach the ground and straightforward to jam or spoof.

During the trial, several Giraffe 1X radars tracked live targets while running on separate AQlock clocks, after which the team introduced deliberate timing errors to reproduce the effects of GNSS spoofing and denial.

According to Saab, the radars operated successfully from separate locations on independent quantum timing, generated a single coherent air picture without satellite timing, degraded predictably when timing was disrupted, recovered quickly once synchronisation was restored, and kept working under conditions representative of both GNSS denial and GNSS spoofing.

Andy Fraser, group managing director at Saab UK, said: “This trial is a great example of how collaboration can accelerate innovation. By combining quantum timing technology with Saab’s advanced Giraffe 1X radar system, we have demonstrated a practical capability that could help customers continue to operate effectively when it matters most.”

Quantum clocks work by measuring the frequency of a transition in cold atoms, which is fixed by physics rather than by the properties of a manufactured component, and they hold accurate time for far longer than conventional oscillators without any external reference. Aquark, based in Southampton, has focused on making cold atom systems small and robust enough to leave the laboratory.

Interference with satellite navigation has moved from a theoretical concern to a daily one. Jamming and spoofing around the Baltic, the Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean have affected civil aviation and shipping on a routine basis since 2022, with aircraft reporting position errors of hundreds of miles, and Finnish and Estonian authorities among those attributing the disruption to Russian sources. GPS-independent timing has consequently become a priority across NATO militaries.

The Giraffe 1X is the smallest radar in Saab’s Giraffe family, a lightweight three-dimensional set that can be mounted on a vehicle or a mast and is used for air surveillance, ground-based air defence and counter-battery work. Its size makes it a plausible candidate for the sort of distributed network the trial was testing, in which several cheap sensors cover an area that one large radar would otherwise be needed for.

Saab UK employs around 600 people across eight sites, including training and simulation in Wiltshire, Seaeye underwater robotics in Fareham, public safety work in Hull and a software technology centre in Farnborough. The company says more than 60 per cent of the Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapon comes from the UK supply chain, along with 35 per cent of the Gripen fighter.