Safran SkyNaute to Fly on Airbus A220 in Commercial Aviation Debut

Safran announced in Paris on October 20, 2026 that SkyNaute, the inertial navigation system developed by Safran Electronics & Defense, will equip the Airbus A220, marking the system’s entry into commercial aviation. It is the first time the group’s inertial navigation system will fly on an airliner, according to Benjamin Declety, Head of the Avionics Global Business Unit at Safran Electronics & Defense.

By combining inertial navigation with hybridized satellite navigation (GNSS) data, SkyNaute ensures that the aircraft maintains a precise and reliable trajectory in all circumstances, the company said in its announcement.

“Seeing SkyNaute take its place on board the Airbus A220 is a source of immense pride for our teams: for the first time, our inertial navigation system will fly on an airliner. This is a strong signal for French industrial expertise,” Declety said. He also thanked Airbus for its trust.

Interference Resistance and HRG Technology

Already selected for military aircraft, helicopters and drones operated by several European armed forces, SkyNaute brings to commercial air transport what Safran called a decisive advantage from the defense world: resistance to interference. The company said the system maintains a highly accurate trajectory even when GNSS signals are unavailable, jammed or spoofed, a capability it described as essential for civil aviation, which faces a growing number of such disruptions in several regions of the world.

This performance relies on the hemispherical resonator gyroscope (HRG) patented by Safran Electronics & Defense, a sensor with no mechanical parts subject to wear that the company said offers unmatched compactness and high resilience in harsh environments.

According to Safran, SkyNaute’s reduced weight, size and power consumption mean simpler installation and weight savings on board for airlines, while meeting the most stringent safety requirements of commercial air transport. The group’s product page lists the unit at 3 liters in size, 3 kilograms in weight and 20 watts of power, built on 100 percent in-house and proven technologies, and claims a 35 percent reduction in size and weight versus market references. Safran attributes the system’s performance to mature and proven technologies including its HRG Crystal hemispherical resonator gyroscopes, and says the product meets all safety and reliability requirements for airplanes, helicopters and drones.

Safran said SkyNaute has already been installed on helicopters subject to strong vibrations and wide temperature variations, on military aircraft exposed to shocks and jamming attempts, and on drones, which require high navigation accuracy and strong resistance to electromagnetic interference. With the A220 selection, the company said, the system confirms its ability to adapt to aircraft with very different integration constraints.

The product page lists earlier selections for the H160M Guépard helicopters of the French Armed Forces in June 2022, for modernized Tiger helicopters in June 2023 alongside Safran’s APIRS attitude and heading reference system and trim actuators, and for Wisk Aero’s Generation 6 autonomous air taxi, also in June 2023.

Montluçon HRG Production Expansion

The HRG is fully developed and industrialized in Montluçon, in central France. On June 8, 2026, Safran Electronics & Defense announced a 120 million euro investment to expand and modernize the site, tripling production capacity of the gyroscope from 10,000 units annually to 30,000 units by 2032.

The industrial site will gain an additional 10,500 square meters, including 3,000 square meters of new cleanrooms equipped with latest-generation industrial machinery. The expansion will be carried out in two phases: an initial 2,500-square-meter extension scheduled for 2027, followed by an additional 8,000 square meters by 2030. Safran Electronics & Defense, already the leading industrial employer in the Allier region with over 1,640 employees, said it will create 500 new jobs by 2030 to support the growth.

Built in 1934, the Montluçon factory is one of the Safran Group’s historic sites. Originally covering 37,000 square meters, it has grown to 100,000 square meters today, including 6,000 square meters of cleanrooms, and will expand to 110,500 square meters upon completion of the project.

The company described the HRG, which it called the most advanced inertial sensor in the world, as the core of its inertial navigation systems. Designed from the outset for mass production with an extremely limited number of components, the gyroscope is built for integration into modular architectures and serves applications ranging from cost-effective, high-volume uses such as munitions and drones to advanced platforms including artillery, armored vehicles, military aircraft and helicopters, as well as ships, submarines, satellites and space launchers. Safran said its key advantage is providing absolute and resilient navigation, remaining operational even in the most critical GPS-denied environments, and that demand for these sovereign technologies, including those used in the Hammer modular air-to-ground weapon, has recently surged at an unprecedented rate.

“This investment will enable us to further solidify our unique position in the navigation domain, and to fulfill our primary commitment: delivering on time to the armed forces that protect France, Europe, and their allies,” Franck Saudo, President of Safran Electronics & Defense, said in the June announcement.