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Communication systems: Thomson-CSF wins MIDS contract for French Army

14 June 2001

The French defense procurement agency has awarded Thomson-CSF Communications a contract worth more than 70 million euros to develop and produce the MIDS-Terre (MIDS-T) system as part of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System initiative.

MIDS-T is designed for land forces systems that incorporate the third dimension: the Martha command information system, the SAMP-T air defense system, French Army light aviation (ALAT) and certain battlefield surveillance assets. MIDS-T will enable these systems to interwork in real time to exchange the tactical information needed for coordination and management of the third dimension.

The MIDS-T system is built around the MIDS LVT (low volume terminal), which was developed under an international cooperative program, and makes it possible to deploy this terminal in ground-to-ground roles. It delivers real-time NATO Link-16 high-speed data services that are fully interoperable with other armed forces (French and NATO partners), as well as 16 kbit/s or vocoded voice.

The system is suitable for wide-area network configurations covering hundreds of kilometers via relay stations. For Thomson-CSF Communications, this contract is an important milestone in a series of inter-related projects conducted in close partnership with the defense procurement agency and the French Army's technical services.

The award also confirms France's pioneering role in the use of the MIDS LVT terminal for land forces operations.With initial operational system trials scheduled for 2003, the MIDS-T award heralds a major breakthrough in moves to boost data rates in battlefield communications.

The award further confirms the systems dimension to Thomson-CSF's capabilities in battlefield communications, weapon systems and command systems for modern armed forces. Thomson-CSF is the French partner in the MIDSCO consortium which developed the MIDS LVT terminal. The other partners are Marconi Aerospace System (United States), DASA (Germany), Marconi Italtel Difesa (Italy) and Indra Electronic Weapon System (Spain).Note to Editors

The contract was awarded to Thomson-CSF Communications, part of Thomson-CSF Comsys, one of Thomson-CSF's business group. Thomson-CSF Comsys ranks No. 1 in Europe and No. 3 worldwide in the defense communications market, generating revenues worth 1.1 billion euros with a global workforce of 7,000.