NTS-3 to Demonstrate Resilient PNT Capabilities in Contested Environments

Next-Generation U.S. Navigation Technology Satellite Nears Launch NTS-3 to Demonstrate Resilient PNT Capabilities in Contested Environments

2025-08-14 Source: Press release 2 min Reading Time

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and L3Harris are preparing to launch the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3), the first U.S. experimental, integrated navigation satellite in nearly five decades. Designed to augment and strengthen GPS, NTS-3 will test advanced positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) technologies to ensure operational resilience in degraded or denied environments.

NTS-3 will test advanced navigation technologies from geosynchronous orbit to strengthen resilience in GPS-contested environments.(Bild: L3Harris) — NTS-3 will test advanced navigation technologies from geosynchronous orbit to strengthen resilience in GPS-contested environments.
(Bild: L3Harris)

Developed under AFRL leadership and built by L3Harris, NTS-3 represents a significant step in modernising PNT capabilities. The system is intended to address vulnerabilities identified in the Department of the Air Force’s posture statement, which highlights the increasing threat to GPS from adversary actions. By operating in geosynchronous orbit at a different altitude from traditional GPS satellites, NTS-3 will conduct on-orbit experiments to evaluate its ability to maintain PNT services under contested conditions.

Planned demonstrations will assess flexible and advanced signal designs, reprogrammability, enhanced timekeeping, beam forming, and alternative operational concepts across space, ground-control and user-equipment segments. The experimental platform is smaller and lighter than conventional navigation satellites, allowing for faster delivery and lower costs. L3Harris achieved a threefold reduction in development time by applying industry-standard form factors, modular payload designs, and early integration of software and firmware.

Key Technical Features:

Active Electronically Steerable Phased Array: First U.S. use of phased array antennas in a space-based PNT mission, enabling simultaneous Earth-coverage and multiple independent regional beams, improving efficiency and resilience.
Agile Waveform Platform: Incorporates an Enhanced Signal Processor and Ground Mission Application for rapid on-orbit signal reprogramming. Supports legacy GPS and new waveforms, with dynamic beam and signal control.
Cion Antenna/Receiver: Fully reprogrammable and capable of autonomous navigation by synchronising to GPS signals, ensuring continuity if ground contact is lost.

The satellite’s launch will be aboard a Vulcan rocket powered by two Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engines, supported by 12 MR-107 thrusters and helium tanks, with additional spaceflight avionics from L3Harris’ Integrated Mission Systems segment.

Once operational, NTS-3 will serve as a testbed for the U.S. military to refine its approach to resilient PNT architectures, potentially informing the future evolution of both national and allied navigation systems.

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Date: 08.12.2025

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