Australian company Advanced Navigation has announced an expansion of its manufacturing capability into the United States, establishing a positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) Centre of Excellence in Huntsville, Alabama, Spatial Source reported. The expansion adds to the company's existing manufacturing and R&D hubs across New South Wales, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, which will remain its core technology and manufacturing base.
The new Huntsville facility will allow specific components, systems and builds to be produced on US soil where required for security, classified programs or customer requirements. "Advanced Navigation was built in Australia, and [it] remains at the heart of our technology, engineering and manufacturing capability," said Chris Shaw, CEO and co-founder of Advanced Navigation. "Expanding into the United States allows us to take that capability directly into one of the world's largest defence and heavy industry markets."
Advanced Navigation has built its name through fibre-optic gyroscope (FOG) inertial navigation systems, already deployed or being deployed in the defence, mining, aerospace, marine and autonomous systems sectors. The company says it is one of a few companies globally with the capability to produce strategic-grade FOGs and laser velocity sensors at scale, with manufacturing precision comparable to semiconductor fabrication.
Chuck Matheny, Vice President of U.S. Operations at Advanced Navigation America, said production, calibration and validation at the new site "all have to work together," with the Australian-developed capability providing the foundation for Huntsville manufacturing. The Huntsville centre will focus on advanced manufacturing spanning fibre optics, MEMS and photonics. "Our investment in Huntsville is an extension of what we have built in Australia, not a replacement for it," Shaw said.