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Thales Delivers Advanced Naval Drone with Next-Gen Sonar to French Navy

  • MM24 News Desk
  • 4 hours ago
  • 2 min read
Credit: Thales
Credit: Thales

Thales has delivered a new surface naval drone to the French Navy, equipped with its advanced TSAM towed sonar and the unique "multi-view" SAMDIS antenna. This unmanned system, part of the Franco-British Maritime Mine Counter Measures (MMCM) programme, boasts a sea mine detection rate of over 99%, significantly enhancing crew safety by minimizing exposure to hazardous environments.


This milestone delivery underscores a major industrial commitment from Thales within a strategically vital international program. The initiative is managed by OCCAR with support from the French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) and the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), reported Naval News. This latest system builds upon the first production unit delivered just months prior in December 2024, which also featured an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) and sophisticated data analysis software.




So, what makes this drone system so revolutionary for modern navies? It fundamentally changes how dangerous mine-hunting missions are conducted. Instead of sending crews into perilous waters, the French Navy can now deploy this crewless drone, operated remotely to sweep vast areas of the ocean floor. The core of its capability lies in the suite of high-performance sensors, particularly the world's only multi-view SAMDIS antenna, which provides unparalleled situational awareness and optimizes detection performance.



The system’s resilience is a key feature, designed to be robust against cyber threats and approved for the most sensitive of operations. This ensures that the drone can perform its duties even in contested electronic environments. Furthermore, the mission planning and data analysis software, which leverages Artificial Intelligence (AI), is engineered to drastically reduce the cognitive load on human operators. This allows for faster, more accurate decision-making during critical missions.


The path to this delivery has been paved with extensive real-world testing and collaboration. Working closely with the Couach shipyard, Thales has refined initial prototypes that have been rigorously evaluated by both the French Navy and the Royal Navy since 2021. This process, involving more than 3,000 hours of sea trials, has been crucial for incorporating direct feedback from the end-users to ensure the systems perfectly meet the demanding needs of frontline operations, according to Naval News.


Sébastien Guérémy, Vice-President in charge of the Underwater Systems activities at Thales, emphasized the program's significance, stating, "Thales is supporting the French Navy to meet the challenges of the transition towards a new operational concept for mine countermeasures. The autonomous system developed by Thales significantly improves mission efficiency while limiting the exposure of crews to mine-related risks. This programme, a world first, is the result of unwavering commitment and a source of pride for our teams."



This delivery represents more than just new hardware; it signifies a shift in naval doctrine. The MMCM programme provides naval forces with operational superiority by integrating heterogeneous drones through its core M-Cube mission management system. This world-first capability ensures that the French Navy and its British allies are equipped to face increasingly complex maritime threats with a technological edge, all while keeping their personnel safe.



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