The UK government released a framework to strengthen Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) resilience across Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and the broader economy, building on the 2018 Blackett report. Key initiatives include;

• National PNT Office: Established within DSIT to lead PNT policy, coordination, and delivery

• PNT Crisis Plan: Maintaining a cross-government plan for GNSS outages and short-term mitigations

• National Timing Centre: Proposal to deliver sovereign, high-quality UK timing (UTC(NPL))

• MOD Timing system: Proposal for a Ministry of Defence-specific timing system using the National Timing Centre

• eLORAN: Proposal for a sovereign terrestrial backup navigation system

• Infrastructure Resilience: Deployment of resilient GNSS chips, holdover clocks, and potential CNI legislation

• UK SBAS: Proposal for a UK satellite-based augmentation system to replace EGNOS

• PNT Skills: Exploration of doctoral training centres and long-term skills development

• Growth Policy: R&D, standards, and testing to boost PNT-driven innovation

• Next-Gen PNT: Investment in a UK Quantum Navigator and exploration of a sovereign satellite system

Prerequisites:

• Institutional & political interest and support for utilising PNT technologies for services

• Understand national

policies and identify national policies that utilise PNT data

• Identify and build relationships with stakeholders involved in policy implementation

• Access to PNT data, data processing and analysis capabilities

• Spectrum policy & coordination with telecom regulator; ITU procedures where applicable

Cost:

• Ballpark: USD 20k–250k

• Includes: literature review and baseline study, stakeholder consultations report drafting and validation, legal review, parliamentary passage/decress if needed

Timeframe:

• Overall: 12–24 mo

• Phase: scoping & consultations (3–6 mo), draft policy/legal review (4–8 mo), approval & adoption (5–10 mo)

Pros:

• Sets high-level direction - Establishes a clear national goal for PNT development

• Better Coordination - Aligns efforts across government, industry, and academia, avoiding duplication and fragmentation

Considerations:

• Resource Constraints - It can be difficult to set up a dedicated national policy for PNT without sufficient resources or expertise