Armouring the Clock: Strategic Policy Enhancements on PNT for the Australian Defence Force

FrontierSI is embarking on a pivotal project under the 2024 Strategic Policy Grants Program (SPGP). The project, titled “Armouring the Clock: Providing Direction to Resilient Positioning, Navigation and Timing,” aims to bolster the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) capabilities.

This research will focus on delivering crucial PNT policy recommendations, with an emphasis on the Indo-Pacific maritime domain, enabled by joint space and cyber capabilities. In collaborating with Defence, this will extend work developed through the FrontierSI white paper “A Time and A Place for Resilience”.

FrontierSI aims to develop robust policy recommendations that will fortify the resilience of critical PNT services, which are indispensable across various Defence operations.  This project will help identify existing gaps in Australia’s PNT policy, draw insights from the policies of allied nations, and assess the critical capabilities and technological gaps essential for ensuring Defence’s future resilience and alignment.

Research outcomes will be distilled into actionable policy recommendations, articulated through scenarios within the Indo-Pacific maritime, space and cyber domains to provide tangible examples of specific impacts. Key activities will include:

• Identifying shortfalls in Australia’s current PNT policies, strategies and roadmaps relative to Defence’s needs.
• Deriving insight from our allies’ policies and frameworks on PNT;
• Assessing and addressing key capabilities and technology gaps that can ensure Defence’s ability to deter and future alignment with allies, and identifying high-value directions for skills and technology development policies.

This project leverages FrontierSI’s specialised expertise and experience in assessing PNT frameworks, strategies, and policies, in Australia and internationally, while seeking directly applicable lessons from domestic and international stakeholders. The sequential activities build progressively, starting by defining and better understanding the problem, comparing the status in Australia to our allies that are crucial to achieving Defence’s objectives, looking ahead to potential solutions, and finally distilling the insights gathered into practical recommendations. The project will assess Australia’s PNT frameworks with a lens on maritime domain operations, to communicate to audiences the impact of policy recommendations through a concrete example that is central to the Defence Strategic Review and National Defence Strategy.

Through this project, FrontierSI aims to strengthen the backbone of Australia’s defence capabilities, ensuring that our PNT services are resilient, reliable, and ready to meet the challenges of the future.

Contact

To learn more about this exciting new project, contact the FrontierSI Positioning Team at contact@frontiersi.com.au or Dr Eldar Rubinov, Positioning and Geodesy Technical Lead at FrontierSI on erubinov@frontiersi.com.au