SAN DIEGO — May 15, 2026 : BAE Systems and Vantor announced a strategic partnership on May 15 to integrate advanced intelligence and targeting capabilities for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) operating in contested electronic warfare environments where GPS signals and onboard sensors may be degraded or denied.
The collaboration combines Vantor’s Raptor vision-based software suite with the BAE Systems Geospatial eXploitation Products (GXP) software ecosystem. According to the companies, the integrated capability is intended to preserve intelligence continuity and maintain precision targeting performance during operations affected by GPS jamming, spoofing, or degraded telemetry.
Growing Challenges in Electronic Warfare Environments
The partnership addresses operational problems increasingly observed in modern conflict zones, particularly the widespread use of inexpensive drones equipped with lower-quality onboard sensors and inertial navigation systems. At the same time, electronic warfare systems capable of disrupting or manipulating satellite navigation signals have become more common on contemporary battlefields.
Under these conditions, drone operators and intelligence analysts may continue receiving high-quality full-motion video feeds while losing confidence in the geographic metadata attached to those feeds. The companies described this issue as “targeting paralysis,” a situation in which detailed imagery remains available but lacks sufficiently accurate coordinates for precision targeting or intelligence exploitation.
According to the companies, inaccurate metadata drift in tactical drone video feeds can significantly reduce operational tempo and undermine targeting confidence even when imagery quality itself remains unaffected.
Integration of Vision-Based Navigation and Geospatial Intelligence
To address telemetry inaccuracies, the integrated solution uses Vantor’s Raptor Sync software as an alternative positioning and navigation capability that does not depend on GPS signals.
Raptor Sync georegisters live drone video feeds against Vantor’s three-dimensional terrain database in real time. Instead of relying on external navigation signals, the system references terrain models and satellite-derived geospatial intelligence to determine the drone’s position and orientation.
The companies stated that this approach enables autonomous systems and intelligence analysts to continue operating effectively in environments where GPS access is denied or compromised. The integration also supports interoperability across multiple sensor types and downstream intelligence fusion within the GXP ecosystem.
According to the companies, the system demonstrated absolute coordinate accuracy of less than three metres during operational testing.
Tactical Workflow and Metadata Correction
The integrated workflow begins at the tactical edge, where corrected Key-Length-Value (KLV) metadata generated by the Raptor software is inserted directly into drone video feeds before the information enters the GXP exploitation environment.
This process overrides inaccurate telemetry data and ensures that analysts receive corrected geographic information during real-time intelligence and targeting operations. By correcting metadata prior to exploitation, operators can derive weapon-quality coordinates from drone video feeds even when onboard inertial sensors lack high absolute accuracy.
The companies stated that the capability is intended to preserve operational tempo and maintain targeting effectiveness during contested operations where traditional GPS-reliant systems may become unreliable.
Capabilities of the Raptor Software Suite
Vantor stated that the broader Raptor software suite was specifically developed to reduce dependence on GPS-based navigation systems for unmanned platforms.
The software operates using a drone’s native camera system combined with Vantor’s three-dimensional terrain data, which the company stated currently covers more than 100 million square kilometres with an approximate accuracy of three metres.
The suite includes several mission-focused applications:
- Raptor Guide — provides aerial positioning with less than seven metres absolute accuracy.
- Raptor Sync — performs real-time video georegistration and telemetry correction.
- Raptor Ace — enables laptop-based coordinate extraction for tactical operators and intelligence analysts.
According to the companies, the software operates on commodity hardware and standard camera systems without requiring specialized onboard equipment. The system is also designed to function during night operations, at low altitudes, and in dense urban terrain where satellite navigation signals may be obstructed or jammed.
Executive Statements
Kurt de Venecia, Senior Director of Product Development at BAE Systems GXP, stated that the partnership focuses on maintaining targeting confidence in degraded operational environments.
“In contested environments, the sensor’s imagery and video collections are only half the battle; the accuracy of the data it produces is what determines mission success,” de Venecia stated. “By including Raptor directly into our GXP intelligence workflows, we are providing analysts with the ability to maintain absolute targeting confidence, even when the platform’s systems or inertial sensors lack high absolute accuracy.”
Paul Millhouse, Senior Director of Raptor Products at Vantor, stated that the integration is intended to strengthen workflow resilience for intelligence analysts and drone operators.
“Analysts cannot afford to lose confidence in where a target actually is,” Millhouse stated. “By using Raptor to correct video before it enters the GXP Ecosystem, we’re enhancing the performance of existing and new drone fleets. The result is a more resilient workflow for extracting accurate ground coordinates and maintaining operational tempo.”
Company Backgrounds
BAE Systems stated that its GXP software ecosystem supports the discovery, exploitation, analysis, and dissemination of mission-critical geospatial intelligence for military operations, national security agencies, emergency response organizations, and commercial users worldwide.
Vantor, headquartered in Westminster, Colorado, provides unified spatial intelligence by combining satellite imagery from its own constellation with real-time sensor feeds collected from air, ground, and space-based platforms. The company stated that its platform creates an artificial intelligence-ready digital representation of Earth used for predictive analysis, autonomous navigation, intelligence production, and automated mission workflows.
The company was previously known as Maxar Intelligence before rebranding as Vantor in October 2025.
Planned Demonstration
The companies announced that the integrated targeting and intelligence capabilities will be demonstrated during the GXP360° Professional Exchange & Workshop scheduled to take place in San Diego, California, from May 18 to May 20, 2026.
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