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Thales is awarded a contract by Belgian Defence for C-130H Hercules self-protection

11 April 2005

Thales has reinforced its position in the field of self-protection for transport aircraft, thanks to a recent contract awarded by Belgian Defence, the central procurement agency for the Belgian armed forces. Within this contract Thales will equip the Belgian fleet of eleven C-130H aircraft with self-protection suites.

Thales, as prime contractor, leads a European team made up of companies recognized for their expertise: the Danish company TERMA, the Portuguese aircraft integrator OGMA, and the Belgian display specialist BARCO.

The team has dedicated its technology expertise and experience to meeting the aircraft operational self-protection requirements.

The fully integrated self-protection system includes the RWR (Radar Warning Receiver) CATS-100 (Compact Airborne Threat Surveyor) by Thales, the ACMDS (Advanced Counter-Measures Dispensing System) and the EWMS (Electronic Warfare Management System) by TERMA. It also integrates the IR-MWS (Infra-Red Missile Warning System) already fitted on-board. BARCO provides the Situational Awareness display. The aircraft modifications are performed by OGMA.

The system is fully user-programmable through a Mission Support Station (MSS) that also provides the capability for mission "replay".

The self-protection system developed by Thales includes a new function dedicated to embedded training of the crew for electronic warfare missions. This function is based on software simulating the display of realistic threats in the cockpit.

At the heart of the self-protection system on-board military transport aircraft or combat helicopters, the CATS-100 features the latest evolution within the Thales RWR range.

Electronic Warfare is essential to the survival of a modern aircraft in worldwide operations, this upto-date self-protection system answers the Belgian Defence commitment to perform external operations in insecure areas worldwide.

This program, due to last 4 years, represents a strategic milestone for a state-of-the-art system which will be showcased to potential export customers worldwide.