Militär Aktuell recently had the opportunity to visit the Thales plant near Limours, south of Paris, and familiarize itself with the potential and range of Europe’s largest manufacturer of ground and sea-based radars.
Thales has built around 4,400 radars to date. Around a quarter of these have been and are still in use in France, the rest are for foreign customers and around 100 have also been rented by companies. According to Thales, there are three success factors. Firstly, there is the focus on export markets – in sales and production. The company has four out of five radars built abroad. A second important success factor is the construction of the systems on universal containers, which (depending on the type) can be transported by truck without further integration and can also be installed in the cargo hold of medium-sized transport aircraft.
The third major pillar of success – and this is probably the most important – is the sophisticated technical parameters on which the radars are based. Thales was the first company to develop radars with modules based on gallium nitride (GaN) technology. Currently, the main focus in Limours is on the reliable detection of small and slow targets such as drones. Many radars still confuse these small flying objects with birds and natural phenomena or fail to detect them altogether. Thanks to advanced algorithms and artificial intelligence, however, the French company now wants to be able to detect even small drones hiding in the vicinity of wind farms, where the wind turbine blades have so far made any detection considerably more difficult. A total of 2,200 employees work on radar equipment at Thales, including 1,300 at the Radar Center of Excellence. Production is planned for one year in advance, and the radars themselves will then be built in just a few weeks, with a total time of 24 months between order placement and delivery. As a result, production of the Ground Master series alone could be ramped up from one system per month to two, i.e. 24 units per year, in 2024. In the near future, this is set to increase to three radars per month.
The company also offers complete air defense systems: short-range or short-range systems such as Force Shield and medium-range types for SAMP/T, with the main branches being universal, air surveillance and fire control radars. The portfolio also includes counter-battery radars (artillery radars) and radars for observing sea and land surfaces. The Ground Master radar family is offered separately or with the GM 200 and GM 200 MM/A models as part of Force Shield with a range of compatible command, communication and effector solutions. As for the SAMP/T medium-range system, it is already in service with the French and Italian armed forces and is equipped with new-generation Aster interceptor missiles and Thales GF-300 multifunction radars (or optionally from Leonardo). This is why neither country is part of Sky Shield. According to Thales, work is currently underway on the modernized version SAMP/T NG (Next Generation), which can be implemented as a fully-fledged anti-access system in the coming years. The system is designed to hit targets over more than 150 kilometers, detect them omnidirectionally from 350 kilometers – and offer further advantages. https://militaeraktuell.at/2025-bundesheer-plant-33-auslandsuebungen/ The French want to create a so-called “chameleon effect” with the help of network-centric high-end solutions. The commanders of individual batteries also receive the situation pictures of other batteries in order to be able to make more far-reaching independent decisions that do not have to be developed with reference to the high command. In February, the European Organization for Cooperation in Armaments (OCCAR) signed a contract for four SAMP/T NG air defence systems for the Italian army. However, Thales managers are still working on the “Military Air Surveillance and Acquisition Radar Systems – Short Range Radar (SRR) deployable and mobile subsystem” tender issued in June. According to the tender, the Ministry of Defense intends to Armed Forces to procure eight short-range systems in the deployable variant and 14 systems in the mobile variant, including five remote operator workstations.
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