• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Thales lands order for 17 Sirius systems

21 April 2006

For the delivery of seventeen Sirius Infra Red Search and Track systems. The Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) has ordered thirteen Sirius systems and the Royal Netherlands Navy has ordered four Sirius systems. The contracts also include logistic services and the supply of spare parts. DRS Technologies is the prime contractor for this contract, with Thales Nederland acting as principal subcontractor. The Thales Nederland share of the contract has a value of well over 55 million euros.

Twelve of the Sirius systems for Canada will be installed on DND' s "Halifax" class frigates. The thirteenth Canadian Sirius will be installed on a land-based training centre in Halifax. The four Sirius systems for the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) will be installed on the "De Zeven Provinciën" class air defence and command frigates. Both navies will receive their first Sirius system around March 2008. All systems will be delivered before the end of 2011.

The Sirius system has been developed by DRS Technologies and Thales Nederland. As part of the development a Sirius Pre-Production Model (PPM) was built, to evaluate the system performance. This PPM was tested in a cold water environment at the Land Based Test Site in Den Helder, the Netherlands and in a warm water environment, near the Bahamas, on board the Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal. At the RNLN Land-Based Test Site, the outstanding long-range detection capabilities of the Sirius system were proven. The warm water trials demonstrated that the Sirius| target detection capabilities also excel in littoral environments. The successful trials supported the early decision of the Canadian Navy to order their Sirius systems together with the RNLN.

With this success, Thales confirms its historic position as major supplier of sensors to the Canadian Navy. This increased presence on Canadian platforms will strengthen the Thales position on the forthcoming major Canadian Navy modernization programs, expected to be launched soon, and which will include both retrofits and new platforms.

About SIRIUS

Sirius is a passive infrared search and track system that operates simultaneously in two wavelengths (3-5 µm and 8-12 µm) and provides long-range surveillance under all atmospheric conditions. As a complement to radar systems, Sirius is an Electro Optical surveillance sensor which cannot be detected. In the complex littoral environment Sirius is a perfect source of additional information for the situational awareness on board naval vessels. Particularly the TV images from Sirius can easily be interpreted by operators to support threat classification.

About Thales

Thales is an international electronics and systems group serving defence, aerospace, security and services markets. The Group employs 60,000 people worldwide and generated revenues of 10.3 billion euros in 2005.
Thales Nederland, established in 1922, is one of the world's leading companies in integrated naval systems for surveillance, weapon control, and combat management. Thales Nederland also has a distinct reputation in system integration.