GPS World

Tag: DGA

  • Airbus tests UAS at sea in full operational configuration

    Airbus Helicopters and the French Armament General Directorate (DGA) tested the unmanned aerial system (UAS) VSR700 for the first time in an operational configuration from a ship at sea.

    The VSR700 performed 80 fully autonomous take-offs and landings from a civil vessel off the coast of Brittany in the west of France at the beginning of May.

    In 2022, the autonomous take-off and landing capabilities of the VSR700 were tested from the same vessel using an optionally piloted vehicle based on a modified Guimbal Cabri G2 equipped with the autonomous take-off and landing (ATOL) system, developed for the VSR700. This time the test campaign took place with the SDAM demonstrator and fully validated the capabilities of the system as part of the Système de Drone Aérien pour la Marine study that was awarded to Airbus Helicopters and Naval Group in 2017.

    Autonomous take-off and landing capabilities are a key asset of the VSR700 and are made possible with the use of the Airbus DeckFinder system. This enables autonomous launch and recovery of UAVs with an accuracy of 10cm-20cm during challenging operations in harsh environmental conditions, independently of GNSS/GPS and regardless of degraded visual conditions.

    This test campaign follows two series of trials that were conducted with the DGA in late 2022 and early 2023, from the Levant Island test center located in the south of France. During these trials, the SDAM prototype demonstrated its ability to operate in a maritime environment.

    The handling qualities of the aircraft were tested as well as the capabilities of the sensors (a maritime surveillance radar, an electro optical sensor, and an AIS receiver) alongside the mission system developed by Naval Group.

    The next development steps will see the second VSR700 prototype perform its maiden flight ahead of flight testing onboard a French Navy FREMM during the second semester of this year.

  • Thales and Syrlinks to develop quantum clocks for France

    Thales and Syrlinks to develop quantum clocks for France

    Thales logoThales and Syrlinks have signed a multi-year contract with the French defence procurement agency (DGA) to develop a new generation of tiny, high-performance atomic clocks.

    Code-named Chronos, these new quantum clocks will meet the requirements of numerous civil and military applications. With their very high stability (error of less than 1 second in tens of thousands of years), defence electronics equipment will be able to operate when a GNSS signal is unavailable, for example due to hostile jamming.

    Working with the procurement agency, the partners will help safeguard France’s technological sovereignty in GNSS-denied positioning, guidance, navigation and encrypted military communications. In civil applications (5G network synchronization, transport, energy, etc.), the Chronos quantum clocks will deliver low price and high performance to French and international customers.

    Large swaths of the modern economy now rely on satellites for synchronization. GNSS technology provides the precise time reference for critical infrastructure such as 4G/5G networks, internet, air and rail transport, energy networks, global banking transactions and high-frequency trading, which would quickly fail if the signal were unavailable. In view of this high level of dependency, backup systems are needed to ensure that our civil and military infrastructure can continue to operate even if the GNSS timing signal is unavailable.

    Thales’s industrial facility in Vélizy-Villacoublay and the Thales Research & Technology center in Palaiseau, both near Paris, have the industrial capabilities and talent to manufacture the atomic and optical core of these future quantum clocks.

    Syrlinks — a French company based in Rennes, Brittany — specializes in satellite radiocommunications, radionavigation systems and miniature atomic clocks, and its products were selected to equip 650 satellites for the American operator OneWeb. The company will develop the electronic brain of the Chronos clock and guarantee its high-precision timing function.

    The CNRS will provide critical scientific support for this project via its SYRTE (Observatoire de Paris) and Femto-ST (Université de Franche-Comté) joint research units.