Representative image of a mini drone | Photo: Thales
France’s Thales announced last week the launch of a ‘lightweight, remotely controlled electronic warfare payload for deployment by small drones to detect and locate radio signals.’
Vice President of Radio Communications Products at Thales, Christophe Groshenry, said in a statement “The current geopolitical context and the emergence of new threats have underscored the expanding role of electronic warfare in the theatre of operations and demonstrated a growing need for all combat units to have direct access to these crucial capabilities. Today we are able to offer a unique new solution that is discreet and easy to use by non-specialised units to enable deployed forces to gain and maintain information superiority in the field.”
The company called the EW drone payload ‘a breakthrough in terms of access to electromagnetic intelligence,’ saying it offers front-line units ‘an unprecedented operational intelligence capability’ that is ‘easy to use by military operators with no specialised training’ and can be ‘adapted for use by land or naval forces.’
Thales said the payload weighs less than 5 kilograms, requires under 40 watts of power and ‘can be installed on free-flying or autonomous drones, or on tethered drones powered and connected to the ground by a cable, to detect radio sources tens of kilometres away with no active emissions.’
Thales said it developed the EW payload after being awarded a proof-of-concept by France’s Defence Innovation Agency (AID) after a European competition.
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