Royal Navy and Saab demonstrate quantum-timed radar network

Saab UK, Aquark Technologies, and the Royal Navy have successfully demonstrated a distributed Giraffe 1X radar network that maintains a coherent air picture without relying on GPS timing. The trial, conducted with the Royal Navy’s Disruptive Capabilities and Technologies Office and involving QinetiQ, utilized Aquark’s AQlock quantum timing technology to synchronize radars at separate locations.

Distributed radar networks require precise timing, often down to billionths of a second, to combine tracking data from multiple sensors into an accurate view of airspace. Traditionally, this timing is provided by Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) like GPS, which are vulnerable to jamming or spoofing in contested environments.

During the demonstration, multiple radars tracked live targets using independent quantum timing sources. The team simulated GNSS spoofing and denial by introducing controlled timing errors. The system successfully generated a single air picture without satellite timing, showed predictable performance degradation during disruption, and achieved rapid recovery once synchronization was restored.