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Thales to supply Satellite Communication System for Dutch Ocean Patrol Vessels

12 October 2009

Thales has been awarded a contract by the Dutch Ministry of Defence to supply naval satcom terminals on the four Ocean Patrol Vessels, that are being built for the Royal Navy. The first terminal will be installed on the first ship scheduled to be handed over to the Royal Navy at the end of 2010. The delivery period will last until 2012.

This very comprehensive contract will guarantee the effectiveness of the Ocean Patrol Vessels, enabling them to communicate over secure, high bandwidth satellite links, both with other national and allied force elements. This solution is already in service in several NATO countries, including France, Belgium and Norway.

Thales will deliver a complete and innovative satcom solution for the Ocean Patrol Vessels (OPV) including a state-of-the-art dual band stabilised antenna, with civilian satcom Ku-band and military X-band. This solution is engineered to give the best trade-off between performances and installation constraints on-board the OPV. It is based on the sea-proven SURFSAT* naval satcom family with leading-edge multi-band and stabilisation capabilities, using multiple transmission systems, and ensuring seamless on-board integration.

Thales is the Prime Designer and Integrator of the Integrated Mast on which the naval satcom terminal will be placed. The possibility to accommodate on the same structure and assure the compatibility of the numerous sensors for communications including satellite, surveillance, fire control and navigation is a sound and unprecedented answer to reduce the time and cost to build naval warships. Other advantages are significant savings in top-deck and below-deck space and better operational performance.

“This contract confirms Thales as a leading provider of naval satcom solutions and will strengthen Thales’s partnership with the Royal Netherlands Navy”, said Geert Van der Molen, Director Land & Joint Systems of Thales Nederland.

*SURFSAT is Thales's family of naval satcom terminals. It has been originally developed for the French Naval-2000 programme. SURFSAT-L, for medium and large vessels, is available in several sizes (from 1m90 to 2m60), and several operating frequency configurations, single or dual, military X band, commercial C or Ku bands. Other configurations are being developed including versions with lower diameter antennas (SURFSAT-S), or for other frequency band such as Ka and EHF.

All the versions of SURFSAT terminals share the same innovative pedestal technology. They can however slightly differ regarding antenna technology; namely, according to the operational and performance requirement, SURFSAT can rely either on aluminium or composite reflector, and be fitted with single band feed or multiband feed. Furthermore, other system functions such as dual satellite tracking, primary link, ESM, etc… are available whatever the version of SURFSAT delivered.