At the Army’s third Tactical Experimentation Campaign 2026 (TEC-3), CATEC presented its new navigation solution for GNSS-denied environments, designed for direct application in hostile operational zones; a technology specifically tailored for the drone/UAS sector in the defence and security fields.
The Army’s Tactical Experimentation Campaign 2026 is an initiative aimed at validating new capabilities and technologies as part of the Army’s transformation process; this third edition took place at the ‘Álvarez de Sotomayor’ Base in Viator (Almería), organised by the team known as the Future Force Centre, and attended by His Majesty King Felipe VI.
During this trial campaign, CATEC presented this new technological solution and was able to explain in person to His Majesty King Felipe VI its main features and the advantages it offers for military applications. Specifically, this GNSS-free positioning system relies on a single on-board camera to estimate position and orientation relative to the take-off point, and all processing takes place entirely on board the aircraft, without the need for prior information about the environment in which it is deployed, nor for external infrastructure or communications with other systems.
It is a compact system whose size and weight make it particularly attractive for integration into other fixed-wing or rotary-wing aircraft of varying sizes and flight dynamics. The system has been validated under real-world field conditions, at speeds of up to 10 m/s and covering distances of up to 5 km, with a cumulative error of around 100 metres (2%), although CATEC continues to refine this technology to further optimise the robustness of the estimation and its accuracy.
Furthermore, this system could be equipped with additional capabilities, such as the detection and tracking of objects of interest based solely on visual data from the camera used for GNSS-free positioning. CATEC’s aim is to be able to present new developments in this technology in the near future for the Spanish Army’s upcoming Experimentation Campaign, thanks to the work of its extensive technical team specialising in UAS and its collaborating partners.
“The success of this campaign’s results allows us to establish ourselves as the leading technology centre for Unmanned Systems (UAS/drones) within the Spanish defence industry. Navigation in GNSS-denied environments is a real and immediate necessity for our armed forces, and we hope to transfer this technology to industry so that it can offer products with greater added value, international differentiation, and absolute national sovereignty. In the immediate future, we will further develop this solution and showcase others related to target tracking and autonomous terminal guidance, also developed entirely in Spain,” said CATEC’s CEO, Joaquín Rodríguez Grau.
The 2026 Tactical Experimentation Campaign brings together units from the Army, agencies of the Ministry of Defence and more than thirty national defence sector companies, which are providing technological systems and solutions in areas such as autonomous vehicles, electronic warfare, connectivity and C-UAS defence. The aim is to accelerate procurement processes, identify mature technologies for potential integration into the Armed Forces, and guide the development of future capabilities. All this is aimed at improving the Army’s effectiveness and advancing the development of the land force of the future.
