The French Navy has awarded a six-year contract to Thales Group to provide through-life support (TLS) for its simulators.
The contract, which would be carried out with the Navy’s fleet support department (SSF), covers 41 simulators at six naval facilities in France.
According to Thales, the simulators cover a wide range of operations and all deployment contexts, starting from shipboard system maintenance to surface vessel crew training and also firing simulators for the mistral missile, 12.7mm and 20mm guns and other weapons.
Crews of all French Navy surface vessels, including its multimission frigates and air defence frigates will receive training with the help of these simulators.
The simulators are also used to train the crews of the Navy’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
Covering simulators delivered from the 1990s until today, the new TLS contract is expected to bolster Thales’s position in training and simulation for naval customers.
In January, Thales secured a contract from the Joint Armaments Cooperation Organisation (OCCAr) to upgrade the fire control system for anti-air missiles integrated on the French Navy’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
As part of the contract awarded on behalf of the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA), Thales installed new equipment on the carrier.
Image: A member of crew training. Photo: courtesy of Thales Group.
