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Thomson-CSF wins atlas canon contract close to 200 million euros

14 June 2001

The contract, worth in excess of EUR 187 million, covers system production, deployment and support for eight artillery regiments, two Cobra counterbattery radar link units, and associated instruction and training resources. It also includes capability sustainment services such as new munitions and interoperability solutions. The award further confirms the systems dimension to Thomson-CSF's capabilities in battlefield communications and command systems for modern armed forces.

ATLAS represents the next generation of C3I (Command Control Communication & Intelligence system) and artillery fire control systems. It performs real-time firing sequence management and provides the applications needed to conduct manoeuvres and command artillery regiments in the field, as well as collecting intelligence data. ATLAS is designed to provide full interoperability with the other systems deployed in the battlespace and with allied artillery systems (United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany). It is the successor to the ATILA system, developed by Thomson-CSF, which has been in service with the French armed forces since the 1980s and has been exported to about a dozen countries.

As a major component of ongoing battlespace digitisation programmes, ATLAS is the most advanced form of artillery system in the world, in terms of both intrinsic performance and development potential. French Army artillery units, often deployed within international coalition forces, will use the ATLAS systems to contribute to target acquisition and intelligence gathering by associated sensors and subsystems, thereby enhancing situational awareness, provide an immediate long-range precision-strike capability, enhance theatre-level security by guaranteeing permanent combat preparedness.

The versatile ATLAS system can adapt to any type of operational organisation and can be reconfigured in the field. As such, it is ideally suited to the conditions of modern airland warfare and the broad range of missions conducted by armed forces today.

With 9,000 employees in 14 countries and annual revenues of EUR 1.5 billion, Thomson-CSF Comsys has responsibility for information and communications systems within Thomson-CSF's defence business area, and is the world leader in defence communications following the acquisition of Racal Electronics.