Thales-CS Team group to build new counter-drone techniques for French military services

29 Apr Thales-CS Team group to build new counter-drone techniques for French military services

French Ministry of Defense has awarded an agreement to Thales and CS Group for any countertop-drone system, named PARADE, to be fielded by 2023.

The French Ministry of Protection has selected Thales and CS Team to construct deployable anti-drone techniques and have them in place by 2023, in front of the nation’s hosting of two significant international sports activities occasions.

The €350 million ($377 thousand) offer consists of an initial six duplicates, jet fighter rides with the option to acquire several dozen more at a later time. The ministry released the procurement notice on Apr 26, spokesperson Herve Grandjean told reporters during a Thursday press meeting.

This program, named PARADE for your French “protection déployable modulaire anti-drone,” was started in May 2021. Thales partnered with CS Team, a command-and-manage (C2) information systems builder, to create technologies capable of detecting and neutralizing microdrones and little UAS platforms, Grandjean stated. Microdrones are usually considered having the dimensions of a big insect, while small UAS often determine between 50 centimeters and 2 meters lengthy.

Each system will include a goniometer capable of finding the drone’s angle of strategy, a radar, an optronic system, and a jamming program, Grandjean informed reporters. The deployable counter-UAS systems is going to be capable of detecting and neutralizing drones, whether they emit electromagnetic waves, he added.

While the systems is going to be utilized for general nationwide security purposes, the intention would be to get them in position in front of “major international occasions on national territory,” Grandjean observed. France is planned to host the 2023 Rugby World Mug as well as the 2024 Summer Olympics.

The 6 preliminary techniques are planned to become delivered in early 2023, as the agreement will allow the ministry to procure extra systems at a later time. This program was created to be “agile and evolving,” enabling the ministry to adapt to future risks, Grandjean said.

“If there exists a need for new options because there are new drone technologies, we is going to be able … of acquiring solutions to integrate these new solutions around the techniques.” He added that such technologies might be a laser weapon. “We can flawlessly envision … adding this kind of services.”

French media reports state that Western consortium MBDA also competed for the PARADE system.