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Defence confirms that it’s Joint Positioning, Navigation and Timing Directorate has now reached initial operating capability.
Established in April last year, the directorate is designed to ensure the Australian Defence Force can operate effectively even when access to global positioning system (GPS) is degraded or denied. Its work extends across stakeholder engagement, training, test and evaluation, and capability development.
During Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025, a team of 17 people from the ADF (full-time and Reservists) and Australian Public Service were deployed to conduct live testing and GPS-denial exercises at Royal Australian Air Force Base Tindal and Delamere Air Weapons Range.
“We regularly conduct GPS jamming activities to assess how systems behave under denied conditions,” Director Joint Positioning, Navigation and Timing, Group Captain Tim Ireland said.
“This testing helps operators and capability managers understand where their systems are vulnerable, and how to mitigate those risks through tactics, training and technology.”
For decades, GPS has served as the primary source of accurate PNT data, underpinning almost every aspect of modern military operations, enabling precision targeting, navigation and force synchronisation across domains. However, modern militaries now contend with jamming, spoofing and anti-satellite weapons.
The directorate is focused on advancing PNT standards and governance within Defence and plays a key role in supporting capability managers to integrate PNT resilience into future acquisitions.
“Whether it’s ensuring the accuracy of precision munitions or synchronising distributed command and control, our warfighters must have confidence in their PNT data, even when GPS is compromised,” GPCAPT Ireland said.
