26 Mar 04. Thales announced the creation of a Land & Joint Systems business group to better serve its customers and drive growth. The creation of this business group, with a strong Franco-British base, provides Thales’ Land customers with clear access to reinforced prime contractorship capabilities. It also reinforces Thales’ position as a proven international prime contractor and as the leading European C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) company for Joint Operations.
In addition the business group draws synergies and added-value from its expertise in communications and optronics equipment, offering its Land, Air and Naval customers the benefits of a comprehensive approach, which is key to the effective “tri-service” integration and allied interoperability required in the field.
This new entity brings together Thales’ activities in information & communications systems, optronics systems, ground surveillance radars, ground robotics and armaments*. The majority of these activities were previously part of the Communications and Optronics business groups.
The Land & Joint Systems business group, with 12,000 employees in 19 countries around the world, should generate annual revenues of 2.5 billion euros in 2004. Thales is involved in major land programmes worldwide (cooperative fighting systems, vehicle & soldier systems, land-based weapon systems, battlespace digitisation) and delivers military forces with integrated and modular C4ISR solutions for Joint Operations that contribute to information superiority on the digitised battlespace (C2, ISR, ground segment satellite communications, infrastructure networks). Thales is also a world leading communications and optronics equipment supplier with references in more than 100 countries worldwide. Its equipments are onboard more than 145 types of land platforms, 70 types of airborne platforms and are in service in more than 40 navies.
In addition, the new entity hosts Thales’ recently created Centre of Excellence for systems architectures and operational concepts across the Thales Group called the Battlespace Transformation Centre. This centre of excellence will work to meet the challenges of Network Centric/Network Enabled Systems, C4ISR solutions and promote greater interoperability.
Thales’ Land and Joint Systems activities have a strong European management. Bruno Rambaud is Senior Vice President, Land and Joint Systems. Sandy Wilson is Senior Vice President, Deputy Land & Joint Systems. Pierre-Yves Chaltiel is Vice President, Communications & Optronics Equipment. Marc Darmon is Vice President , Joint Systems. The Battlespace Transformation Centre is led by Martin Van Schaik. *TDA: 50/50 joint-venture with EADS
Land and Joint Systems activities are organized in 5 areas:
* Land Systems: Prime capabilities and system integration for major land forces programmes : soldier systems, vehicle systems, ground robotics, land-based weapon, systems and battlespace digitisation.
* Joint Systems: Prime capabilities and system integration for major joint forces programmes : communications infrastructures, satellite communications, command & control systems, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and security solutions for defence and government customers (Homeland Security)
* Communications & Optronics Sub-systems and Equipments: Equipment for land, air and naval markets : Defence Optronics, Tactical Communications, Air & Naval communication, navigation, identification
* High Tech Optics: Design, development and production of optical and optronical systems for defence and civil markets