Electronic warfare for light drones: Thales presents EW solution at the Paris Air Show

At the Paris Air Show, Thales is presenting a new electronic warfare (EW) solution. It addresses the growing need for electromagnetic operations that are closely interlinked across all military units.

According to Thales, it will for the first time also allow non-specialist forces to detect, locate and analyse electromagnetic activity on their own.

The starting point was a proof of concept (PoC) tendered by the French defence agency AID and awarded to Thales. During this test phase, several users trialled the solution successfully in a range of scenarios.

Electronic warfare in a small format: light, passive, drone-ready

The new payload weighs less than five kilograms and draws under 40 watts of power, which makes it optimised for light drones. It can be integrated on free-flying drones as well as on tethered drones powered from the ground. It picks up radio signals over a distance of several dozen kilometres without transmitting actively itself.

Christophe Groshenry, Vice President Radio Communications Products at Thales, sees it as a response to the situation: “The current geopolitical context and new threats clearly show how crucial EW capabilities have become for all combat troops.” He adds: “Our solution is discreet, intuitive to operate and designed specifically for non-specialist units – clear proof of our teams’ innovation and their responsiveness to new operational requirements.”