New Kestrel Small EGI Navigation for Tactical Drones

Small EGI navigation system delivers big benefits for smaller tactical drones

Uncrewed vehicles are reshaping the modern battlefield, especially in Ukraine and the Middle East, where small, low-cost drones fly reconnaissance, targeting, electronic warfare and precision-strike missions without putting human pilots in harm’s way. Accurate navigation is a must in contested environments like these, but Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals can’t always be trusted because they’re highly susceptible to enemy jamming and spoofing.

We improved navigation resilience for other types of military and commercial aircraft in the 1990s by combining satellite and inertial navigation technologies into a highly resilient multimodal solution – the embedded GNSS/inertial (EGI) navigation system.

But most tactical drones simply aren’t large enough to accommodate navigation systems designed for larger platforms. So we developed Kestrel, a compact small-form-factor EGI specifically engineered to deliver resilient navigation for the next generation of tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Compact Kestrel EGI fits smaller drones’ navigation needs

“The shift toward smaller, rapidly deployable drones is driving demand for a compact EGI that can deliver resilient, military-grade navigation performance without the size, weight and cost of EGIs designed for larger aircraft,” said Michael Jirjis, defense navigation offering management director at Honeywell Aerospace.

“Our new small form factor EGI – called Kestrel – will bring precise positioning, navigation and timing capabilities to drones that are simply too small to accommodate a full-size EGI system,” he added. “Kestrel provides significantly better navigation performance than other alternatives while meeting the strict size, weight and power (SWaP) requirements of smaller drones.”

Kestrel is roughly 40% smaller and lighter than Honeywell Aerospace’s full-size EGI systems, with accuracy levels scaled to meet the specific needs of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Because they fly shorter tactical missions, drones don’t need the same navigation-grade performance as larger military aircraft. Kestrel delivers the right balance of size, weight, cost and resilient navigation capability for modern tactical drone operations.

How Kestrel delivers resilient navigation for military drones

Kestrel combines GNSS signals with data from onboard inertial sensors to let tactical drones know where they are, where they’re headed and how they’ll get there. By blending these two sources of information, the small EGI can provide reliable navigation even if satellite signals become weak, disrupted or temporarily unavailable. This makes Kestrel especially valuable for drones operating in jammed or spoofed environments.

“The system uses our proven HG3900 near-navigation-grade micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) inertial technology combined with military code (MCode) and multiple GNSS receivers to deliver resilient positioning, navigation and timing performance for tactical drones operating in jammed and spoofed environments,” Jirjis said. “Further down the line, we expect to add alternative navigation modalities to the mix to make the system even more resilient.”

Kestrel is now in the integration phase of development with customer demonstrations expected to begin later in 2026 and first deliveries scheduled for early 2027. “We’re currently at the stage where we are looking to partner with drone developers and potential operators to shape the final product specifications,” Jirjis said.