Locata Corporation reports that the US Air Force 746th Test Squadron (746 TS) recently awarded New Mexico based TMC Design Corporation a contract to install and integrate the Locata Non-GPS Based Positioning System (NGBPS) on White Sands Missile Range (WSMR).

TMC Design is a Locata Technology Integrator (LTI) that has been certified by Locata to build and install military systems in the U.S. Under this contract, TMC Design will design, integrate, install and test the NGBPS system to provide the 746 TS with highly accurate "truth data" covering a large proportion of WSMR.

The Locata system will give the 746 TS an entirely new and enhanced capability, allowing them to evaluate the operations of mobile and airborne position, navigation, and timing (PNT) equipment in GPS-denied environments.

The operational installation of the NGBPS system will consist of both fixed and mobile Command and Control (C2) nodes, and a network of LocataLite transceivers deployed on WSMR. The Locata NGBPS system is capable of operating in combination with GPS, or completely independent of GPS, depending on 746 TS mission requirements.

As the GPS Test Center of Expertise and DoD's lead test organization for evaluating GPS user equipment and GPS-based guidance and navigation systems, the 746 TS recognizes the NGBPS as a critical component for the realization of the squadron's new Ultra-High Accuracy Reference System for the increasingly demanding test and evaluation of future navigation systems for the U.S. Department of Defense.

"At TMC Design, we fully understand that this Locata-based NGBPS will provide the 746 TS with an unprecedented capability," said Chris Ham, President and CEO for TMC Design Corporation.

"It will allow them to provide a technically superior test environment for the evaluation of DoD guidance, navigation and NAVWAR systems in support of the warfighter in GPS-denied conditions. We are eager to lead this deployment effort, supporting the 746 TS so that they may achieve their mission goals into the next decade."

"Backed by years of development effort, Locata earned the sole-source, 13-year contract to supply the USAF with our core enabling technology," said Nunzio Gambale, Locata CEO.

"Locata will be the essential element which powers the USAF's new 'gold standard GPS test system,' supplying continuous centimeter-level positioning when GPS is completely jammed. Now that we have completed the development and contract negotiation stage and our system is to be physically deployed for operational use across WSMR, we rely heavily on the professionalism and expertise of our integration partner, TMC, to build out and install the Locata ground infrastructure.

Our team looks forward to working closely with TMC and the 746 TS to make the system operational for the USAF in Q3 of this year. This Locata-based system will usher in a new era of advancement for the 746 TS, and the US military's GPS capability."

Locata Corporation, headquartered in Canberra, Australia and with a US office in Las Vegas, Nevada is the proprietary inventor, designer and manufacturer of LocataLite transceivers.

These radical new devices create the synchronized NGBPS network that fully replicates a GPS constellation on the ground. There is no other technology that can achieve this.