Defence Expo 2020: French defence major Thales will showcase its transformative digital technologies at India’s biggest defence exhibition Defence Expo 2020 in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh next week. Thales sees the theme of this mega defence event as an opportunity for itself as India’s defence ministry has chosen ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’ as the main subject of the prestigious biennial event that attracts top defence and aerospace companies from across the world to India.
“Thales, a world leader in digital identity & security, will be showcasing defence technologies that are digitally driven and future focused,” said the company in a statement.
Thales is present in India since 1950s and has more than 1600 employees working with the company and its joint ventures across Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai and other cities.
The company has two engineering competence centres in India in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. While Delhi-NCR center is focused on digital identity and security business, the one in Bengaluru focuses on hardware, software and systems engineering capabilities for both the civil and defence sectors.
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According to the company, it will show case a wide range of products and solutions through a series of demonstrations across four categories which will cover Land, Naval and Air, Digital Transformation and Security.
Thales at Defence Expo 2020
The French defence and security major will display its targeting and reconnaissance pod Talios. Talios combines targeting and tactical reconnaissance capabilities in a single pod. The company said it will be able to embed artificial intelligence in future.
The company will also showcase Pathmaster, the first fully configurable unmanned mine countermeasures system.
It will also demonstrate land combat systems such as a fully integrated soldier system capability, software defined radios – SYNAPS – among the family of communication devices, armaments and mock-up missiles supporting air defence systems such as STARStreak and lightweight multi-role missiles among other things.
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Face recognition and anti-drone technology
Thales will exhibit its Live Face Identification System, a video-based biometric facial recognition system for tracking and recognition as India embarks on a modernisation drive to secure its key security installations and airports.
The company will also present Eagleshield, a multi-sensor integrated drone countermeasures solution that can detect, identify, classify and neutralise rogue drones flying at low altitude at ranges of up to 7 kilometers.
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Digital solutions for Air Force and Navy
Thales will showcase anti-submarine warfare solutions such as Captas 1 and Aero & Naval connectivity & Identification solutions such as Nextwave, Interrogator Friend Foe TSB 2510 etc.
“These technologies have the potential to enable India’s armed forces to achieve high ambitions and master every decisive moment,” said the company.
Like a large number of Indian and foreign defence companies, Thales also seeks to take advantage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on modernisation of Indian armed forces as it has opened multi-billion dollar opportunities in the country’s defence sector.
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Thales said that display of such unique digitally driven technologies across verticals will not only reiterate the company’s commitment towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship scheme – Make in India – but will also showcase its future plans for modernisation of Indian armed forces.
“We are enthusiastic about our participation at the Defence Expo 2020 as it allows us to demonstrate our leadership in technologies that are completely in line with the Expo’s theme this year – Digital Transformation of Defence,” said Emmanuel de Roquefeuil Vice President and Country Director of Thales in India.
