Thales, Airbus to design French SIGINT system
Thales and Airbus Defence and Space have been selected to design and develop the French future military spaced-based signals intelligence (SIGINT) system, as announced by Thales on 12 March.
The French defence procurement agency (DGA) selected the two companies for the contract, which covers the entire space and user ground segment, along with through-life support.
The SIGINT system, named Capacité de Renseignement Electromagnétique d’origine Spatiale (CERES), is scheduled to enter service by 2020.
The CERES system will have three closely-positioned satellites that will detect and locate radars and radio communication. The ground control segment of the system will be provided by the French space agency CNES. A user ground segment is also included.
Thales will be responsible for the mission payload on board the satellites and for the user ground segment that will conduct data processing and satellite programming.
Airbus Defence and Space will be responsible for the space segment, which includes three satellites that will carry the SIGINT payloads. Thales Alenia Space will provide the platforms as part of a subcontract to Airbus.
More from Digital Battlespace
-
Push for greater use of open source data, says senior British officer
The huge amount of open source data available may not carry the weight of secret sources but it does carry substantial value, according to speakers at Defence IQ C4ISR Global conference in London.
-
Jacobs wins MoD cyber-security support contract
The deal with Jacobs will run until November 2027 and will see the company deliver a range of digital and IT specialist professional services to Defence Digital.
-
Orbit upgrades two multi-purpose terminals and carries out land testing
The communications company has upgraded two of its Beyond Line-of-Sight Multi-Purpose Terminals (MBTs) by introducing advancements in satellite communication technology and AI-driven maintenance capabilities.
-
Norway to receive maritime surveillance satellite data from Kongsberg
Norway's Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace has announced that its subsidiary Kongsberg NanoAvionics will produce three satellites and launch them in 2025.
-
First South Korean 425 Project observation satellite launched
In 2015, South Korea named a consortium of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Hanwha Systems, along with Thales Alenia Space providing the SAR payload derived from its HE-R1000 product, as preferred bidder to develop new Korea 425 Project reconnaissance satellites.