The largest defence and professional electronics company in France, and also Europe, is Thomson-CSF. This majority-owned subsidiary of Thomson SA generated Fr36.3 billion ($6.28 billion)-worth of sales in 1996 (a 2.2% rise on 1995), with proÌts of $404 million. Of this, 65% was defence-related, around half of that being of international origin.
With the long-running and not uncontroversial privatisation process supposedly nearing its end (although a further delay is possible as a result of the French elections), the future for Thomson-CSF is now in the melting pot. Lagardère subsidiary Matra and Alcatel both deposited their bids in late March for a takeover which, depending on the way the decision goes, is bound to change forever the shape of the French defence and professional electronics industry.
Through its rejection of the last-minute attempt to enter the bidding from the UK's GEC, the French Government has made it clear that it wants Thomson-CSF to remain at the heart of the defence electronics "centre of excellence" - although it seems its hopes may be subject to the fundamental reorganisation of the company which is bound to take place once the new owner is revealed.
new subsidiaries
Thomson's product line-up is based on a huge array of civil and military products which include missiles, tactical and satellite communications, electronic warfare, air defence, optronics and surveillance systems.
After the reorganisation of its industrial activities and the creation of new subsidiaries on 1 December, 1995, there were more than 160 companies in the Thomson-CSF group (94 of which are located in France). Of the revenue total, 43% originated in France, 28% in the rest of Europe (where for the Ìrst time in 1996 sales broke the Fr10 billion barrier), 7% in North America and 8% and 14% in the Middle East and Asia, respectively. The company has more than 180 production, integration and maintenance sites, research laboratories, test establishments, design offices and computer centres.
For the Dassault Rafale, Thomson-CSF is involved in development of the front-sector optronic system (with Sagem), while it is teamed with Dassault Electronique on the RBE-2 radar, and the RDI pulse-Doppler radar for the Dassault Mirage 2000. The Crotale New Generation short-range air-defence missile remains in production and has been exported to many customers. It is offered in conjunction with the VT1 hypervelocity missile for naval defence. Anti-aircraft command and control centres and air command and control systems are available, and have sold widely, while the company is the prime contractor for the Arabel fire-control system under development for the Eurosam partnership.
A full range of missile electronics has been developed, including the missile navigation-radar for the Matra/Aerospatiale Apache cruise missile, and, in partnership with the UK's Shorts, the Starburst range of laser-beam riding, close air-defence systems - claimed to be immune to all countermeasures.
The Horizon helicopter ground-surveillance system, various unmanned aerial-vehicle systems, electronics for maritime-patrol aircraft, and the MRR three-dimensional multi-role search radar are also in the line-up, while Thomson-CSF's Dutch subsidiary Signaal offers a range of optronics equipment for detection and surveillance.
Sextant Avionique was created in 1989 from the marriage of Thomson-CSF and Aerospatiale's avionics components (they hold 66.6% and 33.3% stakes respectively), and has in the past six years pulled off a major re-organisation in which the equivalent of seven companies have been regrouped, its 30 sites reduced to just ten and the combined workforce cut by 30%. With revenues of Fr4.9 billion in 1996, it is the leading European avionics manufacturer, and has succeeded in diversifying from offering discrete avionics systems to supplying complete systems, often under risk-sharing arrangements. These include prime contractorship for the avionics on the Bombardier Dash 8-400 regional turboprop, and the flight-control system for the Bombardier Global Express long-range business jet. It also supplies complete avionics systems for the South African Denel Rooivalk helicopter, the Polish Iryda M96 trainer, India's Mikoyan MiG-21 fighter and Spanish Mirage F-1s. The company is now concentrating on the growing market in China, and has recently proposed a wide-ranging alliance with Avic for local development and manufacture of avionics for civil and regional aircraft, and helicopters.
Multi-mode receiver
Sextant Avionique has developed a multi-mode receiver for Airbus Industrie aircraft -and has already secured a contract from United Airlines to equip its A319 fleet. With the UK's Smiths Industries, it also supplies a new range of flight-management systems for the entire Airbus range. The company has developed the Topsight head-up display (HUD) for civil applications, and was chosen by Alitalia to fit the system, along with its Topstar GNSS receiver, as part of an all-weather landing system for its fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-82s.
Military work accounts for 46% of Sextant Avionique's revenues, and the company supplies liquid-crystal displays, wide-angle HUDs and the helmet-mounted sight for the Rafale, as well as the HUD, multi-function displays and numerous other avionics items for the Mirage 2000-5. It is also teamed with Sfim Industries to offer a new, low-cost avionics system for the Eurocopter EC120 and EC135 helicopters.
The company has invested heavily in the air-traffic management domain, and expects business in the sector to account for up to 25% of turnover by the end of the century, through its membership of the Thomfans group, which combines Thomson-CSF's ground-based communications, navigation and surveillance equipment with Sextant Avionique's airborne avionics.
The Dassault Electronique group has seen a strong recovery in its fortunes since 1993, consolidated sales increasing from Fr4.25 billion in 1995, to Fr4.6 billion in 1996. Orders were also up, reaching Fr7.38 billion against the previous year's Fr7.2 billion. The shortage of defence business has driven the company towards diversification from its four core businesses-missile seekers, digital systems, electronic warfare and radars - which previously accounted for around 40% of total business - to other professional electronic activities in the civil sector.
The company's main activities centre on electromagnetic seekers, electronic warfare, radar detection and software, with strong suits also in civil avionics, space equipment and navigation. Military programmes include the co-operative radar programmes with Thomson-CSF for the Rafale and Mirage 2000 fighters, and with Thomson-CSF and Matra, on the Spectra integrated self-protection system. With GEC-Marconi, there is co-operation on development of the AD4A active seeker for the Mica air-to-air missile, and with Italy's Alenia a joint venture on the active seeker for the Aster anti-aircraft missile.
The company also produces the ED-DI electronic-warfare system system for the Mirage 2000, mission computers for the Rafale and Mirage 2000, and radar-warning receivers for French army helicopters.
In civil aviation, Dassault Electronique offers a range of global-positioning-system (GPS) receivers, and is developing multi-mode global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers for air, sea and land applications. It also claims European leadership in ground-collision- avoidance systems based on digital terrain software.
Sagem, which claims a presence in no fewer than 95 countries in all five continents, is the European leader in inertial navigation and infra-red optronics. Combined turnover for the group was Fr15 billion in 1996.
The company acts as a system integrator and prime contractor for aircraft modernisation programmes, and has developed a range of mission-planning systems and avionics systems trainers for pilots, as well as being a specialist in unmanned aerial vehicles.
It is teamed with Thomson-CSF to develop and produce the optronic, visual identification and infra-red search and track system for all versions of the Rafale fighter, while in co-operation with EDS defence, Sagem won the contract to supply the Panavia Tornado Advanced Mission Planning Aid (Tampa) contract, which forms part of the modernisation programme for the Royal Air Force GR4 aircraft.
Maestro modifications
Sagem has modernised around 400 aircraft with various configurations of its Maestro (Modular Avionics Enhancement System Targeted for Retrofit Operations) system, which ranges in sophistication from a simple inertial-navigation/head-up display system to an integrated multi-role equipment combining radar, head-up display, electronic-warfare and day-and-night infra-red imaging systems.
Founded in 1947, Sfim Industries now exports 70% of its turnover, which stood at Fr1.7 billion in 1996, the company recording a 10.3% increase in orders for the year. It is still in the process of a major reorganisation to rationalise its various sites and reduce losses. From 1 January Sfim Industries has also begun restructuring of its ODS defence optronics business, bought from Matra in 1992, which lost Fr37 million in 1996. This has been merged with Sfim's core optronics business, as a result of which the company is expected to break even in 1997.
Besides optronics, Sfim is strong in measurement, telecommunications and avionics, and is a European leader in helicopter ßight-control systems, and as a major authority on flight testing. It is also a leading supplier of aircraft-condition-monitoring systems and has 70% of the European space-optics market.
Sfim provides the night-vision goggles for the Eurocopter Tiger anti-tank helicopter, as well as the mast-mounted sight, video cameras and monitors and the anti-laser visors for the helmet. The company also supplies major avionics components for the Eurocopter EC135 and NH Industries NH90, and was chosen in 1996 to provide the APIRS F2000 strapdown inertial reference system for the Bombardier Dash 8-400 regional turboprop. Sfim will also retrofit a military version of the system for upgrading the Dassault Super Etendard fighter.
Source: Flight International
