2023-08-07 10:15:51
Rugby World Cup 2023, Paris Olympics 2024… A few months before these major sporting events which will take place in France, the Ministry of the Armed Forces will see its anti-drone system expand. Thales and CS Group presented, in mid-October in Brétigny-sur-Orge (Essonne), during a demonstration and a simulated exercise, their system called “Parade”. The latter aims to neutralize microphones and mini-drones whose weight varies from a few hundred grams to 25 kg, such as those that can be found on the market.
“The danger has different levels,” explains Thierry Bon, director of anti-drone solutions at Thales. “It can be a recreational pilot who has his drone and who, without doing it on purpose, will enter an area that is prohibited; there may also be drones that want to do reconnaissance, intelligence, with cameras, on sites that are not authorized; and then there is the drone which could have certain types of loads and which would therefore be much more dangerous…”
These small drones, transformed or not, are increasingly used, as during the war in Ukraine for example, for reconnaissance or even to drop projectiles. “We realize that the more we go down in the weight of the drones and especially their size, the more complicated it is to be able to detect, identify and neutralize them, continues Thierry Bon. So there was a need, at this level, to complete the securing of this layer of airspace and against this type of drones. »
The Parade system is defined as “multi-layered”: it merges the data provided by a radar, a goniometer (which detects frequencies), an electro-optical and infrared camera, and presents them, via a single interface, to an operator. In the event of a threat, this operator can then activate a jammer, which cuts the link between the drone and the pilot’s remote control. In this case, the drone changes direction or lands.
“It’s an eleven-year contract, which provides for changes,” says Thierry Bon. “There is an anticipation that is already made to be able to adapt this system according to new threats (…) It is not infallible but we are doing everything to prepare for the future”. “Parade” is also designed to possibly integrate other interception methods.
Developed by Thales, this drone interceptor drone, named RapidEagle, could be deployed during the Games #Paris2024 if he gets his certification on time pic.twitter.com/ehQQneu4x4
— The Parisian | OJ ???? (@leparisien2024) August 7, 2023
A laser, the Helma-P from Cilas, capable of frying a drone in less than ten seconds at 1,000 m, should be available in 2024; Thales is working on an “electromagnetic effector”, a kind of large ball that emits a powerful wave several hundred meters against a drone, rendering it inoperative in a second. Other potential additions could be interceptor drones that would net the hostile drone or jammer drones.
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