Thales and Dassault Aviation to strengthen France's SIGINT capabilities
Thales and Dassault Aviation have been awarded a contract by the French Armament General Directorate (DGA) to equip the French Army's future strategic intelligence aircraft with the CUGE universal EW capability.
CUGE will equip the first two Falcon X aircraft that are to be built by Dassault Aviation. Three aircraft are set to enter service with the French Air Force from 2025 to replace two Transall C-160 Gabriel aircraft currently in service.
CUGE forms part of France’s ARCHANGE programme which aims to strengthen France's signals intelligence (SIGINT) capabilities. This includes enabling users to manage ever more complex tactical situations in real time on the battlefield, deploying surveillance systems that enable the intelligence services to make the best decisions in a timely fashion.
Thales – in partnership with Dassault Aviation, the DGA and the armed forces – has developed a new generation of SIGINT technologies under several advanced study programmes. Thales will produce all the sensors for the SIGINT payload and integrate the overall system on board Dassault Aviation's Falcon 8X aircraft.
These new technologies will enable the system to detect and analyse radar and radar signals simultaneously for the first time, using Thales' multi-polarisation antennas and AI technologies to automate data processing.
The information collected by the systems will then be analysed by monitoring and intelligence specialists and fed into armed force databases. The programme also includes a ground-based training platform.
Related Programmes in Defence Insight
Strategic Intelligence Aircraft [France]
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
More from Digital Battlespace
-
AUSA 2024: General Micro Systems adds four new products to the X9 Spider family
The airborne three-domain, the two ground-based and the ¼ ATR OpenVPX-based cross-domain systems were engineered to provide real-time security across multi-domain operations.
-
BAE Systems gets go-ahead for second phase of mission communications programme
DARPA’s Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme was set up to develop an autonomous tactical network and enable critical data flow in contested environments.
-
Just Released: Space Technology Report
Why space is an essential part of modern military capabilities
-
Work-from-home warfare: the power of mixed reality
Defence-secure mixed reality headsets can save hours, or even weeks, of travel time to fix defunct equipment or get subject experts effectively “on-site” where they are needed.
-
Northrop Grumman receives follow-on contract for CUAS and C-IED systems
The Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare (JCREW) counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) and Drone Restricted Access Using Known Electromagnetic Warfare (DRAKE) counter-UAS (CUAS) systems are mounted and dismounted RF jammers.
-
Adarga’s Vantage AI software selected for UK Strategic Command’s Defence Support
Adarga’s Vantage information analysis tool is in service with the UK MoD and individual UK forces. It builds on the company’s Knowledge Platform which processes, organises and analyses open source material, as well as information held by the user’s military, security and intelligence services.