Airbus bets on AI and quantum navigation to solve the issues of GPS spoofing and GNSS denied
July 17, 2025
In a quiet corner of Silicon Valley, Airbus’s innovation centre, Acubed, recently took a bold leap into the future of aviation.
Teaming up with SandboxAQ, a Google spinout specialising in artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, it carried out a cutting-edge experiment that could redefine how aircraft navigate our skies.
For decades, aerospace has relied almost entirely on GPS, the satellite-based system that tells aircraft where they are in the world.
But in recent years, GPS has come under threat. From the Middle East to the borders of Ukraine, GPS jamming, where signals are blocked, and spoofing, where fake signals mislead pilots, have grown more frequent.
In these scenarios, aircraft may unknowingly drift off course, and military drones may lose their way altogether.
The AQNav system uses an approach that feels like science fiction, but is grounded firmly in physics. A small black box, about the size of a toaster, houses a laser, a single GPU chip, and something far more subtle: the ability to read the Earth’s magnetic field with exquisite precision.
How does AQNav work to provide geolocation?
The laser inside the box fires photons at electrons. As the electrons absorb and release these photons, the process produces a magnetic signature; a unique ‘fingerprint’ for each location on the planet’s crust.
Charged particles deep within the Earth give every square metre a slightly different magnetic texture. The AI inside AQNav (MagNav) matches these readings to a magnetic map, providing high accuracy geolocation.
The end result is an unjammable, unspoofable global location system that is unaffected by weather, terrain or water. As militaries around the world look to find solutions to GNSS denied situations, AQNav offers a workable alternative to traditional GPS systems.
Proving quantum navigation technology with real world flight testing
To date, AQNav has logged more than 200 flight-hours and more than 40 sorties on four different aircraft types, ranging in size from the Beechcraft Baron to a C-17.
These showed that MagNav could pinpoint its position to within two nautical miles 100% of the time, and within 550 metres 64% of the time. In a one-hour test over rugged terrain, its accuracy was less than 74 metres.
“It’s the first novel absolute navigation system to our knowledge in the last 50 years,” says SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary.
Although the device won’t replace GPS entirely, its analogue nature means it cannot be spoofed or jammed, because it doesn’t rely on receiving external digital signals. It reads the planet itself.
SandboxAQ notes a 2,000% increase in GPS interference between 2018 and 2021, with 30,000 aircraft affected in just one month in 2024. Removing satelites from the equation could provide a more robust, reliable alternative to traditional GPS.
Initially, this quantum navigation solution is being developed with defence clients in mind. But the ultimate goal is to also equip commercial aircraft with the technology.
“I think that it really shows that this technology can be a potential aid,” says Eric Euteneuer, Principal Systems Engineer at Acubed. “The need for this encompasses all of Airbus’s key business segments.”
Beyond aviation: Quantum sensing could unlock new capabilities
The promise of quantum sensing extends beyond aviation. EY’s global Chief Innovation Officer, Joe Depa, notes its potential use in detecting hidden submarines, tunnels, or even the faint magnetic pulses of a human heart or brain, aiding diagnosis without invasive procedures.
While quantum sensing has been in laboratories for decades, it’s now moving into the real world. Some analysts estimate the market could reach between $1 billion and $6 billion by 2040.
“We’re not talking about something 20 years out,” says Depa. “This is here and now.”
And if the Earth’s crust becomes a map, who needs satellites to find their way home?
