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Thales awarded Mode 5 IFF contract by French DGA

20 March 2007

The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) has awarded a contract to Thales for the development and manufacture of the new Mode 5 NA to equip the French Armed Forces.

The Mode 5 will provide the French Army, Air Force and Navy with a new high-performance identification capability, providing higher levels of communication security than the legacy Mode 4. With this new mode, that will further minimize the possibility of friendly fire on an aircraft or a ship, the IFF equipment will guarantee for the coming decades the interoperability of the French Forces with the NATO allied Forces.

According to the contract, Thales will add the Mode 5 to the Combined Interrogator Transponder (CIT) of the Rafale aircraft and to the multiplatform Transponder** (TAR). The Mode S capability of these equipments, used for military and civil air surveillance, will also be upgraded to be compliant with the latest International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards. Thus, the Rafale and the other aircraft equipped with these latest generation IFF systems will be able to fly into the general airspace without any specific restriction.

This award further strengthens Thales position as a worldwide leader in the IFF domain. It shows that Thales is ready to offer to the armed Forces of the NATO countries full Mode 5 and Mode S capabilities for their IFF equipment needs.

To date, Thales has supplied more than 15,000 IFF equipments and has systems installed on more than one hundred platforms worldwide.

Notes to the Editor
*IFF: Identification Friend or Foe
**TAR: Transponder Airborne Remote equipping several platforms such as CASA 235, SDCA 3F, Tiger, NH90, EC725 RESCO

About Thales

Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, serving defence, aerospace and security markets worldwide, supported by a comprehensive services offering. The group's civil and military businesses develop in parallel to serve a single objective: the security of people, property and nations. Leveraging a global network of high-level researchers, Thales offers a capability unmatched in Europe to develop and deploy critical information systems. Thales employs 70,000 people in 50 countries and generated revenues of € 10.3 billion in 2006, with a record order book of over € 20 billion.