Royal Navy Quantum Clock Keeps Radar Network Synced Without GPS

In a first-of-its-kind trial, the Royal Navy, Saab UK and quantum startup Aquark Technologies kept a distributed Giraffe 1X radar network holding a coherent air picture on cold-atom quantum clocks instead of GPS — and recovering cleanly from simulated jamming and spoofing.

In a first-of-its-kind trial, the Royal Navy has shown that a military radar network can hold together without GPS, leaning on quantum clocks for the timing that keeps its sensors in lockstep.

Conducted in June across multiple UK sites with QinetiQ, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and the experimentation vessel XV Patrick Blackett, the trial paired Saab's Giraffe 1X radar with Aquark's AQlock cold-atom quantum clock. Radars at separate locations tracked live targets while relying solely on independent AQlock timing references rather than GPS — a meaningful test, because distributed radar networks need timing accurate to within billionths of a second to fuse tracks from separated sensors into one accurate picture.

To test resilience, engineers injected controlled timing errors simulating GNSS spoofing and denial. According to Saab, the radars kept generating a single air picture throughout, showing predictable performance degradation during the disruption and rapid recovery once synchronization was restored. Saab believes it is the first demonstration of a distributed, high-performance military radar network maintaining a coherent operational picture on independent quantum timing.

It is Aquark's third collaboration with the Navy's Disruptive Capabilities and Technologies Office — the AQlock previously ran continuously for three days at sea aboard HMS Pursuer in the Solent.

Sources: Inside GNSS | Marine Link | ADS Advance