Airbus
Airbus SE, from 2000 to 2014 known as the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, is a European multinational aerospace corporation, registered in the Netherlands and trading shares in France and Spain. It designs and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures in the European Union and various other countries; the company has three divisions: Commercial Aircraft and Space, Helicopters, the third being the largest in its industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. The company's main civil aeroplane business is based in Blagnac, France, a suburb of Toulouse, with production and manufacturing facilities in the European Union but in China and the United States. Final assembly production is based in France; the company produces and markets the first commercially viable digital fly-by-wire airliner, the Airbus A320, the world's largest passenger airliner, the A380. The 10,000th aircraft, an A350, was delivered to Singapore Airlines on 14 October 2016.
The global Airbus fleet have performed more than 110 million flights, totaling over 215 billion kilometres and carrying 12 billion passengers. Airbus's corporate headquarters is located in Leiden and the main office is located in Toulouse, France; the company is led by CEO Guillaume Faury and is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. The current company is the product of consolidation in the European aerospace industry tracing back to the formation of the Airbus Industrie GIE consortium in 1970. In 2000, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company NV was established. In addition to other subsidiaries pertaining to security and space activities, EADS owned 100% of the pre-existing Eurocopter SA, established in 1992, as well as 80% of Airbus Industrie GIE. In 2001, Airbus Industrie GIE was reorganised as a simplified joint-stock company. In 2006, EADS acquired. EADS NV was renamed Airbus Group NV and SE in 2014, 2015, respectively. Due to the dominance of the Airbus SAS division within Airbus Group SE, these parent and subsidiary companies were merged in January 2017, keeping the name of the parent company.
The company was given its present name in April 2017. The logos of Airbus Industrie GIE and Airbus SAS displayed a stylised turbine symbol, redolent of a jet engine, a font similar to Helvetica Black; the logo colours were reflected in the standard Airbus aircraft livery in each period. The EADS logo between 2000 and 2010 combined the logos of the merged companies, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG and Aérospatiale-Matra, after which these elements were removed and a new font with 3D shading was chosen; this font was retained in the logos of Airbus Group NV and Airbus Group SE Airbus SE: The Airbus product line started with the A300, the world's first twin-aisle, twin-engined aircraft. A shorter, re-winged, re-engined variant of the A300 is known as the A310. Building on its success, Airbus launched the A320 notable for being the first commercial jet to use a fly-by-wire control system; the A320 has been, continues to be, a great commercial success. The A318 and A319 are shorter derivatives with some of the latter under construction for the corporate business jet market as Airbus Corporate Jets.
A stretched version is known as the A321. The A320 family's primary competitor is the Boeing 737 family; the longer-range widebody products— the twin-jet A330 and the four-engine A340— have efficient wings, enhanced by winglets. The Airbus A340-500 has an operating range of 16,700 kilometres, the second longest range of any commercial jet after the Boeing 777-200LR. All Airbus aircraft developed since have cockpit systems similar to the A320, making it easier to train crew. Production of the four-engine A340 was ended in 2011 due to lack of sales compared to its twin-engine counterparts, such as the Boeing 777. Airbus is studying a replacement for the A320 series, tentatively dubbed NSR, for "New Short-Range aircraft"; those studies indicated a maximum fuel efficiency gain of 9–10% for the NSR. Airbus however opted to enhance the existing A320 design using new winglets and working on aerodynamical improvements; this "A320 Enhanced" should have a fuel efficiency improvement of around 4–5%, shifting the launch of an A320 replacement to 2017–2018.
On 24 September 2009, the COO Fabrice Bregier stated to Le Figaro that the company would need from €800 million to €1 billion over six years to develop the new aircraft generation and preserve the company technological lead from new competitors like the Chinese Comac C919, scheduled to operate by 2015–2020. In July 2007, Airbus delivered its last A300 to FedEx, marking the end of the A300/A310 production line. Airbus intends to relocate Toulouse A320 final assembly activity to Hamburg, A350/A380 production in the opposite direction as part of its Power8 organisation plan begun under ex-CEO Christian Streiff. Airbus supplied replacement parts and service for Concorde until its retirement in 2003; the Airbus Corporate Jets modifies new aircraft for private and corporate customers. It has a model range that parallels the commercial aircraft offered by the company, ranging from the A318 Elite to the double-deck Airbus A380 Prestige. Following the entry of the 737 based Boeing Business Jet, Airbus joined the business jet market with the A319 Corporate Jet in 1997.
Although the term Airbus Corporate jet was used only for the A319CJ, it is now us
Hellenic Aerospace Industry
Hellenic Aerospace Industry is the leading aerospace company of Greece. The company headquarters is located in Tanagra, 65 kilometers north-west of Athens, with the industrial complex covering an area of 200,000 sq.m. The company has undertaken over the years extensive subcontracting work with major international aerospace companies such as Boeing, Alenia, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, EADS and others; the company has accomplished original developments in unmanned aviation structures, military electronics, telecommunications equipment, night vision equipment, wind generators and composite material technology. Original designs include a number of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, the Pegasus and Pegasus II UAVs, first flown in 1982 and still in service with the Hellenic Air Force. Industrial capability is organized by production centers geared to deliver high technology services and products in a wide range of activities, that include: Military aircraft and engine maintenance, overhaul, modifications and logistics support Development, design and after sales support of electronic and telecommunication products, satellite systems and applications, co-development and co-production of weapon systems.
Aerostructures manufacturing and assembly Repair and calibration of precision measuring devices and equipmentHAI's Quality System is certified by BVQI, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 9001:1994 and TickIT Guide and EN/AS 9100. The company applies Total quality management and Six Sigma methodology. In addition, HAI has been inspected and accepted by nearly every major manufacturer in the sector of Aerospace Industries. HAI has been approved and certified by the HCAA as a repair center to provide services for Civil aircraft components and engines in compliance to JAR-145 requirements and by major engine manufacturers for the repair and overhaul of engines, such as T53 by Honeywell Aerospace, T56/501D by Rolls-Royce and ATAR K-50 by Snecma Moteurs. Furthermore, it has been approved and certified as a maintenance center for the C-130 aircraft by Lockheed Aeronautics, King Air aircraft by Raytheon and P-3 aircraft by the Hellenic Navy. HAI was founded by the Greek State in 1975 to undertake all aircraft-related construction activity, so that the historic KEA factory would concentrate on maintenance work.
A huge factory was built in Tanagra, 65 km north of Athens employing thousands. In 1979 the development of the E1-79 Pegasus, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, was begun in collaboration with KETA and its first flight was made in 1982. By 2003 it was operational, being upgraded in 2005 to Pegasus II level. Other similar projects by HAI include the TELAMON, a advanced, jet-powered UAV, jointly developed with Northrop, based on the latter's Chuckar III UAV, it was introduced in 1986 but the project did not proceed, considered too expensive for the Hellenic Air Force requirements. In 1990, HAI developed in collaboration with DASA of Germany, Alenia of Italy and Per Udsen of Denmark the "Advanced Amphibious Aircraft" which, was not produced. Other developments that were not completed for financial reasons at the time, include a trainer for the Hellenic Air Force of own design and many joint projects. In 1996, HAI entered the "F-16 Fighting Falcon" co-production program with Lockheed Martin. In 2000 HAI has joined the "Next Generation Fighter" program, an experimental Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle, undertaking the construction of the rear fuselage, the tail pipe, the integration bench, the Engine, the Air to Air Missiles and the Communications System of the aircraft.
HAI joined the "Eurotrainer" development and co-production program with Dassault Aviation, EADS, Saab AB, RUAG and Alenia. In January 2006, HAI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Aermacchi for the "M-346 Advanced Trainer" co-production project. In March 2007, HAI joined EADS in the "Eurofighter" project, undertaking the construction of a composite fuselage part for the Typhoon. On the 29th of that month, HAI signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Russian Aerospace Industry IRCUT, for the co-production of the Russian firefighting aircraft Beriev Be-200 if it is to be chosen by the Hellenic Air Force in the near future. In April 2007, HAI signed an agreement with the United States Air Force for the structural and electronic upgrade of all US F-16 fighters that harbor in Europe, in its facilities in Greece; this agreement concerns 100 aircraft of the US Air Force. The program begun in November 2007 and the first upgraded US fighter was delivered to the US Air Force in March 2008. Since 2005 HAI has been involved in the design and construction of part of the new Boeing Dreamliner 787 and the CDS of this new airliner.
The aircraft is the first environmentally friendly aircraft to be constructed by composite material. HAI looks forward to be the exclusive supplier of the CDS worldwide and construction will begin in the mid 2008. HAI is involved in the design and construction, using composite material, of the prototype part of the internal force structure of the wing of the new AIRBUS A380. In 2010, the Hellenic Aerospace Industry was considered one of several Greek state owned enterprises requiring restructuring, because it had a primary revenue deficit; the Aircraft Maintenance Facilities cover a wide range of military & civil fixed and rotary wing aircraft. All aircraft accessories and avionics are covered. Services include depot level maintenance, major electromechanical and electronic systems, modification/upgrade programs on aircraft and avionics systems, struct
Stealth aircraft
Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, visible light, radio frequency spectrum, audio, collectively known as stealth technology. Well-known modern examples of stealth of U. S. aircraft include the United States' F-117 Nighthawk, the B-2 Spirit, the F-22 Raptor, the F-35 Lightning II. While no aircraft is invisible to radar, stealth aircraft make it more difficult for conventional radar to detect or track the aircraft increasing the odds of an aircraft avoiding detection by enemy radar and/or avoiding being targeted by radar guided weapons. Stealth is the combination of passive low observable features and active emitters such as low-probability-of-intercept radars and laser designators; these are combined with active measures such as planning all mission maneuvers in order to minimize the aircraft's radar cross-section, since common actions such as hard turns or opening bomb bay doors can more than double an otherwise stealthy aircraft's radar return.
It is accomplished by using a complex design philosophy to reduce the ability of an opponent's sensors to detect, track, or attack the stealth aircraft. This philosophy takes into account the heat and other emissions of the aircraft as these can be used to locate it. Sensors made to reduce the impact of current low observable technologies exist or have been proposed such as IRST systems to detect reduced heat emissions, long wavelength radars to counter stealth shaping and RAM focused on shorter wavelength radar, or radar setups with multiple emitters to counter stealth shaping; however these do so with disadvantages compared to traditional radar against non-stealthy aircraft. Full-size stealth combat aircraft demonstrators have been flown by the United States and China; as of March 2017, the United States Armed Forces utilize three models of dedicated, manned stealth aircraft and the Chinese Air Force operates one, with a number of other countries developing their own designs. There are various aircraft with reduced detectability, either unintentionally or as a secondary feature.
During World War I, the Germans experimented with the use of Cellon, a transparent covering material, in an attempt to reduce the visibility of military aircraft. Single examples of the Fokker E. III Eindecker fighter monoplane, the Albatros C. I two-seat observation biplane, the Linke-Hofmann R. I prototype. In fact, sunlight glinting from the covering made the aircraft more visible; the material was found to be degraded both by sunlight and in-flight temperature changes so the attempt to make transparent aircraft was not proceeded with. In 1916, the British modified a small SS class airship for the purpose of night-time aerial reconnaissance over German Empire lines on the Western Front. Fitted with a silenced engine and a black gas bag, the craft was both invisible and inaudible from the ground, but several night-time flights over German-held territory produced little useful intelligence, the idea was dropped. Nearly three decades a more serious attempt at radar "invisibility" was tried with the Horten Ho 229 flying wing fighter-bomber, developed in Nazi Germany during the last years of World War II.
In addition to the aircraft's shape, the majority of the Ho 229's wooden skin was bonded together using carbon-impregnated plywood resins designed with the purported intention of absorbing radar waves. Testing performed in early 2009 by the Northrop-Grumman Corporation established that this compound, along with the aircraft's shape, would have rendered the Ho 229 invisible to the top-end HF-band, 20–30 MHz primary signals of Britain's Chain Home early warning radar, provided the aircraft was traveling at high speed at low altitude – 50–100 feet. > Modern stealth aircraft first became possible when Denys Overholser, a mathematician working for Lockheed Aircraft during the 1970s, adopted a mathematical model developed by Petr Ufimtsev, a Soviet scientist, to develop a computer program called Echo 1. Echo made it possible to predict the radar signature of an aircraft made with flat panels, called facets. In 1975, engineers at Lockheed Skunk Works found that an aircraft made with faceted surfaces could have a low radar signature because the surfaces would radiate all of the radar energy away from the receiver.
Lockheed built a model called "the Hopeless Diamond", a reference to the famous Hope Diamond and the design's predicted instability. Because advanced computers were available to control the flight of a Hopeless Diamond, for the first time designers realized that it might be possible to make an aircraft, invisible to radar. Reduced radar cross section is only one of five factors the designers addressed to create a stealthy design such as the F-22; the F-22 has been designed to disguise its infrared emissions to make it harder to detect by infrared homing surface-to-air or air-to-air missiles. Designers addressed making the aircraft less visible to the naked eye, controlling radio transmissions, noise abatement; the first combat use of purpose-designed stealth aircraft was in December 1989 during Operation Just Cause in Panama. On 20 December 1989, two United States Air Force F-117s bombed a Panamanian Defense Force barracks in Rio Hato, Panama. In 1991, F-117s were tasked with attacking the most fortified targets in Iraq in the opening phase of Operation Desert Storm and were the only jets allowed to operate inside Baghdad's city limits.
The general desig
General Atomics MQ-1 Predator
The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator is an American remotely piloted aircraft built by General Atomics, used by the United States Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency. Conceived in the early 1990s for aerial reconnaissance and forward observation roles, the Predator carries cameras and other sensors, it was upgraded to carry and fire two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles or other munitions. The aircraft entered service in 1995, saw combat in the war in Afghanistan, the NATO intervention in Bosnia, the Iraq War, the 2011 Libyan civil war, the 2014 intervention in Syria, Somalia; the USAF describes the Predator as a "Tier II" MALE UAS. The UAS consists of four aircraft or "air vehicles" with sensors, a ground control station, a primary satellite link communication suite. Powered by a Rotax engine and driven by a propeller, the air vehicle can fly up to 400 nmi to a target, loiter overhead for 14 hours return to its base; the RQ-1 Predator was the primary remotely piloted aircraft used for offensive operations by the USAF and the CIA in Afghanistan and the Pakistani tribal areas from 2001 until the introduction of the MQ-9 Reaper.
Because offensive uses of the Predator are classified by the U. S. U. S. military officials have reported an appreciation for the intelligence and reconnaissance-gathering abilities of RPAs but declined to publicly discuss their offensive use. The United States Air Force retired the Predator in 2018. Civilian applications for drones have included border enforcement and scientific studies, to monitor wind direction and other characteristics of large forest fires; the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon began experimenting with unmanned reconnaissance aircraft in the early 1980s. The CIA preferred small, unobtrusive drones, in contrast to the United States Air Force. In the early 1990s, the CIA became interested in the "Amber", a drone developed by Leading Systems, Inc; the company's owner, Abraham Karem, was the former chief designer for the Israeli Air Force, had immigrated to the U. S. in the late 1970s. Karem's company had since gone bankrupt and been bought up by a U. S. defense contractor, from whom the CIA secretly bought five drones.
Karem agreed to produce a quiet engine for the vehicle, which had until sounded like "a lawnmower in the sky". The new development became known as the "Predator". General Atomics Aeronautical Systems was awarded a contract to develop the Predator in January 1994, the initial Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration phase lasted from January 1994 to June 1996. First flight took place on 3 July 1994 at the El Mirage airfield in the Mojave Desert; the aircraft itself was a derivative of the GA Gnat 750. During the ACTD phase, three systems were purchased from GA, comprising twelve aircraft and three ground control stations. From April through May 1995, the Predator ACTD aircraft were flown as a part of the Roving Sands 1995 exercises in the U. S; the exercise operations were successful, this led to the decision to deploy the system to the Balkans in the summer of 1995. During the ACTD, Predators were operated by a combined Army/Navy team managed by the Navy's Joint Program Office for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and first deployed to Gjader, for operations in the Former Yugoslavia in spring 1995.
By the start of the United States Afghan campaign in 2001, the USAF had acquired 60 Predators, said it had lost 20 of them in action. Few if any of the losses were from enemy action, the worst problem being foul weather icy conditions; some critics within the Pentagon saw the high loss rate as a sign of poor operational procedures. In response to the losses caused by cold weather conditions, a few of the USAF Predators were fitted with de-icing systems, along with an uprated turbocharged engine and improved avionics; this improved "Block 1" version was referred to as the "RQ-1B", or the "MQ-1B" if it carried munitions. The Predator system was designated the RQ-1 Predator; the "R" is the United States Department of Defense designation for reconnaissance and the "Q" refers to an unmanned aircraft system. The "1" describes it as being the first of a series of aircraft systems built for unmanned reconnaissance. Pre-production systems were designated as RQ-1A, while the RQ-1B denotes the baseline production configuration.
These are designations of the system as a unit. The actual aircraft themselves were designated RQ-1K for pre-production models, RQ-1L for production models. In 2002, the USAF changed the designation to MQ-1 to reflect its growing use as an armed aircraft. During campaign in the former Yugoslavia, a Predator's pilot would sit with several payload specialists in a van near the runway of the drone's operating base. Direct radio signals controlled the drone's takeoff and initial ascent. Communications shifted to military satellite networks linked to the pilot's van. Pilots experienced a delay of several seconds between moving the drone's response, but by 2000, improvements in communications systems made it possible, at least in theory, to fly the drone remotely from great distances. It was no longer necessary to use close-up radio signals during the Predator's ascent; the entire flight could be controlled by satellite from any command and control center with the
Michèle Alliot-Marie
Michèle Yvette Marie-Thérèse Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie, known in France as MAM, is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament from France. She is a member of part of the European People's Party. A member of all right-wing governments formed in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, she was the first woman in France to hold the portfolios of Defense, the Interior and Foreign Affairs.. She resigned from government in 2011 due to her position during the Tunisian Revolution, she became a member of the European Parliament in 2014. She remains Deputy Mayor of Saint-Jean-de-Luz as well as Vice President of the National Council of The Republicans. Alliot-Marie was the last President of the Rally for the Republic, an incarnation of the Gaullist party, was the first woman to chair a major French political party, she has remained a leading Gaullist after the RPR merged into the UMP and was seen as a rival to Nicolas Sarkozy before and after his election as President in 2007, although direct confrontation was always avoided.
Alliot-Marie is political science scholar. Her companion is Patrick Ollier, Minister in charge of Relations with Parliament in the Fillon II government. Michèle Marie was born on 10 September 1946 in Villeneuve-le-Roi, her father is Bernard Marie, a famous international rugby referee, the French National Assembly Deputy for the Pyrénées-Atlantiques' 4th constituency, the Mayor of Biarritz. She attended the High School of the Folie Saint James in Neuilly-sur-Seine and began her studies at the Paris Law Faculty in the now-defunct University of Paris, continuing at the Paris Arts Faculty in that same university. After then-Education Minister Edgar Faure's university reforms were implemented in 1968, she continued her studies in private law, political science, legal history at both Panthéon-Assas University, earning a Doctor of Law degree there in 1973 with her thesis Salarié actionnaire, Pantheon-Sorbonne University, where she earned a Doctorate in Political Science in 1982 and defended her thesis Décisions politiques et structures administratives.
During her university years, she was a member of the right-wing student union UNIShe holds a Certificat d'aptitude à la profession d'avocat known as a CAPA. Before her career in politics, she was a senior lecturer at the Paris-I University, spent some time practicing law, she is a recipient of the Faculty of Law and Economics. During her university studies, Alliot-Marie began having a relationship with her then-law professor Michel Alliot, chief of staff to then-Education Minister Edgar Faure. Marie and Alliot married in 1971, thus gaining her frequent access to academic and corporate environments, she was first assistant at Panthéon-Assas University and the University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne between 1970 and 1984, before becoming a Maître de conférences in public law from 1984, a position she left when she got elected to the French National Assembly in 1986. In 1972, she became a technical adviser to Edgar Faure, by the Minister of Social Affairs until 1976, she became an adviser to then-Minister of Departments and Overseas Territories Bernard Stasi from 1973 to 1974, to then-Secretary of State for Tourism Gérard Ducray in 1974.
She became the Chief of Staff to then-Secretary of State and Minister of Universities Alice Saunier-Seité from 1976 to 1978 before working in the private sector as an administrator of CEO of the company Uta-Indemnité between 1979 and 1985. She practiced as a lawyer during this time. Alliot-Marie started her electoral career in 1983 as Municipal Councillor for the Basque-area village of Ciboure, located south of her father's political base of Biarritz, near Saint-Jean-de-Luz. In 1989, she was elected to this time in Biarritz, alongside her father. In 1990, as part of the municipal majority behind the first Deputy Mayor Didier Borotra of the UDF-CDS, she passed draft legislation in opposition to build a hotel-casino on the front of the main beach of the town, which caused a collapse of the council. Early municipal elections in 1991 were won by Didier Borotra, who united the local UDF, two elected Socialists, Basque nationalists, who provided additional support, she left the council at the same time.
She served as Mayor of Saint-Jean-de-Luz from 1995 until 2002, as First Deputy May
Thales Group
Thales Group is a French multinational company that designs and builds electrical systems and provides services for the aerospace, defence and security markets. Its headquarters are in La Défense, its stock is listed on the Euronext Paris; the company changed its name to Thales from Thomson-CSF in December 2000 shortly after the acquisition of Racal Electronics plc, a UK defence electronics group. It is state-owned by the French government, has operations in more than 56 countries, it has 64,000 employees and generated €14.9 billion in revenues in 2016. It is the 10th largest defence contractor in the world and 55% of its total sales are military sales; the CEO of Thales Group is Patrice Caine since December 2014. Thales' predecessor, Thomson-CSF, evolved from Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston, established in 1893; however Thomson-CSF itself was established in 1968 when Thomson-Brandt merged its electronics arm with that of Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie Sans Fil. Thales formed a joint venture with Raytheon in June 2001 to combine their radar and communications systems divisions.
Named ThalesRaytheonSystems, the firm is 50% owned by both parent companies. The joint venture was restructured in 2016 to switch focus on NATO agencies and NATO member states. In 2002 Thales set up the joint venture company Armaris with the French shipbuilder DCN to offer a total "bottom up" shipbuilding capability. In 2002, Thales Broadcast Multimedia, a former subsidiary of Thales, provided China with standard short-wave radio-broadcasting equipment designed for general public radio broadcasting. Although the contract was not at all for the purpose of jamming foreign radio stations broadcasting to China, it now appears that this is what the ALLISS antennas are being used for. In 2003 Thales UK's design won the competition for the Royal Navy Future Carrier and the company now participates in an alliance company with BAE Systems and the UK Ministry of Defence. Thales Navigation, a division that produced GPS units, was sold to private equity group Shah Capital Partners in 2006 for $170 million and renamed Magellan.
In 2006 Thales acquired Australian Defence Industries, a major manufacturer of military equipment such as smokeless gunpowder and the Bushmaster IMV. In April 2006, Thales announced it would be acquiring Alcatel's space business, Alcatel's Rail Signalling Solutions division in a deal which raised Alcatel's ownership of Thales to 21.66 percent. The French government would decrease its ownership in Thales to 27.1 percent from 31.3 percent as part of the acquisition. The deal would include the Systems Integration activities. In January 2007, the 1.7 billion deal Euro was approved. In 2008, Thales acquired British Hardware security module vendor nCipher.. In 2018 it committed to divesting it as condition for its acquisition of Gemalto and in 2019 it was announced that it would divest it to Entrust Datacard.. In December 2008, Alcatel agreed to sell a 20.8% stake in French engineering group Thales SA to Dassault Aviation SA for €1.57 billion. In 2014, Alcatel-Lucent initiated talks to sell its cybersecurity unit to Thales.
The deal was signed in October that year. In 2016, Thales acquired Vormetric, a data security company, for $400M. In 2017 it acquired Guavus and bid €4.76B for digital security company Gemalto. As of 31 December 2014, Thales Group was owned 26.4% by the Government of France, 25.3% by Dassault Aviation, 48.3% float, including employee ownership of 2%. Thales Group supplies electronic devices and equipment used by the French Armed Forces from its past as Thomson-CSF, including the SPECTRA helmet for the army and the gendarmerie, it made its SPECTRA defensive aids. Thales worked with DCNS and designed the electronics used on French ships, it is involved in the construction of both the Horizon and FREMM programs. Thales, as Thomson-CSF, was involved in the Taiwan frigates scandal, relating to the sale of La Fayette class frigates to Taiwan, it is present in Eurosam as Thomson-CSF was a founder of the consortium along Aérospatiale and Alenia Aeronautica. In February 2004, Thales was awarded a contract for a new command and control system for the French Navy, the SIC 21, that will be fitted on the Charles de Gaulle, many vessels and shore locations.
Additionally, the planned Future French aircraft carrier PA2 involved Thales as the main designer of the ship. However, the project was cancelled in 2013. Thales is working on X-ray imaging, finances and operating commercial satellites. By 2012 the company is composed of five branches: Defense, Space and Ground transportation. Among the EU supported projects Thales participates in are: Galileo - the European system establishing GNSS, like GPS/Glonass/Compass/Beidou SESAR - both as aircraft equipment manufacturer and as ATM system vendor The company's design won the competition for the Royal Navy Future Carrier, it is part of the AirTanker consortium, the winning bid for the RAF's Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft. Thales UK won the contract for Watchkeeper, it produces the SWARM remote weapon station. Thales simulators include full motion devices as well as flat panel and other training facilities. Thales Air Defence produces a range of short-range missile systems such as the Starstreak surface-to-air missile.
The Thales ATM (Air T
Dassault Rafale
The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform air supremacy, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions; the Rafale is referred to as an "omnirole" aircraft by Dassault. In the late 1970s, the French Air Force and Navy were seeking to replace and consolidate their current fleets of aircraft. In order to reduce development costs and boost prospective sales, France entered into an arrangement with UK, Germany and Spain to produce an agile multi-purpose fighter, the Eurofighter Typhoon. Subsequent disagreements over workshare and differing requirements led to France's pursuit of its own development programme. Dassault built a technology demonstrator which first flew in July 1986 as part of an eight-year flight-test programme, paving the way for the go-ahead of the project; the Rafale is distinct from other European fighters of its era in that it is entirely built by one country, involving most of France's major defence contractors, such as Dassault and Safran.
Many of the aircraft's avionics and features, such as direct voice input, the RBE2 AA active electronically scanned array radar and the optronique secteur frontal infra-red search and track sensor, were domestically developed and produced for the Rafale programme. Scheduled to enter service in 1996, the Rafale suffered significant delays due to post-Cold War budget cuts and changes in priorities; the aircraft is available in three main variants: Rafale C single-seat land-based version, Rafale B twin-seat land-based version, Rafale M single-seat carrier-based version. Introduced in 2001, the Rafale is being produced for both the French Air Force and for carrier-based operations in the French Navy; the Rafale has been marketed for export to several countries, was selected for purchase by the Indian Air Force, the Egyptian Air Force, the Qatar Air Force. The Rafale has been used in combat over Afghanistan, Mali and Syria. Several upgrades to the weapons and avionics of the Rafale are planned to be introduced by 2018.
In the mid-1970s, both the French Air Force and Navy had requirements for a new generation of fighters to replace those in or about to enter service. Because their requirements were similar, to reduce cost, both departments issued a common request for proposal. In 1975, the French Ministry of Aviation initiated studies for a new aircraft to complement the upcoming and smaller Dassault Mirage 2000, with each aircraft optimised for differing roles. In 1979, the French company Dassault joined the MBB/BAe "European Collaborative Fighter" project, renamed the "European Combat Aircraft"; the French company contributed the aerodynamic layout of a prospective twin-engine, single-seat fighter. In 1983, the "Future European Fighter Aircraft" programme was initiated, bringing together Italy, West Germany and the United Kingdom to jointly develop a new fighter, although the latter three had their own aircraft developments. A number of factors led to the eventual split between the other four countries. Around 1984 France reiterated its requirement for a carrier-capable version and demanded a leading role.
It insisted on a swing-role fighter, lighter than the design favoured by the other four nations. West Germany, the UK and Italy established a new EFA programme. In Turin on 2 August 1985, West Germany, the UK and Italy agreed to go ahead with the Eurofighter, confirmed that France, along with Spain, had chosen not to proceed as a member of the project. Despite pressure from France, Spain rejoined the Eurofighter project in early September 1985; the four-nation project resulted in the development of the Eurofighter Typhoon. In France, the government proceeded with its own programme; the French Ministry of Defence required an aircraft capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground, all-day and adverse weather operations. Unlike other contemporary European fighter projects that required some level of international collaboration and cost-sharing, France was the sole developer of the Rafale's airframe, propulsion system and armament, as such the aircraft was to replace a multitude of aircraft in the French Armed Forces.
The Rafale would perform roles filled by an assortment of specialised platforms, including the Jaguar, Mirage F1C/CR/CT, Mirage 2000C/-5/N in the Armée de l'air, the F-8P Crusader, Étendard IVP/M and Super Étendard in the Aéronavale. During October–December 1978, prior to France's joining of the ECA, Dassault received contracts for the development of project ACT 92; the following year, the National Office for Aviation Studies and Research began studying the possible configurations of the new fighter under the codename Rapace. By March 1980, the number of configurations had been narrowed down to four, two of which had a combination of canards, delta wings and a single vertical tail-fin. In October 1982, the French Ministry of Defence announced that Dassault would build a technology demonstrator named Avion de Combat expérimental, in short ACX. France wanted to collaborate with West Germany and the UK on the project, but was prepared to build the ACX by itself. In 1984, the government decided to proceed with a combat variant of the ACX due to the co
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