Thales Optronique is planning to integrate systems from W Vinten into its Dual Band (DB) Reconnaissance Pod, which it is developing for the French air force's Next Generation Reconnaissance programme.
Vinten is part of UK-based Avimo, which Thales recently purchased and is integrating into its electro-optical (EO) business.
Serge Larroque, Thales Optronique airborne recce products director, says the DB pod is a cross-Thales programme with other elements of the defence electronics giant contributing to the system, which includes ground stations and datalinks as well as the pod.
Thales received a contract in late 2000, and the pod is due to enter service on Dassault Mirage 2000Ns and Rafales from 2006.By 2010, 15 pods will be delivered to the air force and eight to the navy with seven ground exploitation stations. The company will also modify aircraft mission planning systems to cater for the pod, which will be programmed from the same systems.
Larroque says the pod will have visible light and infrared EO sensors and that Thales will offer the Vinten VIGIL infrared line-scanner - used on the UK Royal Air Force's Panavia Tornado - and the Vinten 8010 EO camera used on RAF Sepecat Jaguars.
The pod, which will have a 360° rotating nose section to provide horizon-to-horizon coverage, will be equipped with a low-rate datalink to control the pod from the ground while a high-speed equivalent will allow the real time downloading of imagery. The imagery will be stored in the pod on a high capacity digital recorder.
The system will also cater for future reconnaissance and surveillance systems, with Optronique working with Thales Airborne Systems to ensure that synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indicator data can be integrated at a later date. Larroque says Thales is planning to offer complete reconnaissance systems with all components from within the group.
Source: Flight International
