Radio Communications

Fully SCA and ESSOR compliant, SYNAPS SDR technology offers exceptional operational flexibility and meets the sovereignty requirements of each individual customer. The SYNAPS radio family is a comprehensive range of products, including hand-held, vehicular, airborne, naval and fixed-site versions, using advanced waveforms to interconnect all forces deployed in the theatre of operations. SYNAPS enables backward interoperability with previous generations of Thales tactical radios and introduces new Thales-designed high-data-rate ah-hoc networking waveforms AirPower and UHF-Command/UHF-Combat to deliver the connectivity required to deploy advanced collaborative combat capabilities respectively airborne and land operations.  SYNAPS radios leverage a new automated mission-planning tool SYNAPS-EASY to easily generate initialization files from a high level Order Of Battle description.

Thales is a world leader for tactical radios and on board communication solutions for land, air and naval forces.

• Thales is system architect and integrator for France's CONTACT software-designed radio network. This programme covers the full range of radio networking capabilities, from dismounted infantry and mobile command posts to battalion level. Compliant with NATO standards, the CONTACT system will improve performance by a factor of 100 compared with current-generation equipment and will offer a joint forces radio communication capability for land, air and naval operations.
• The engineering effort currently involves more than 1,000 engineers at Thales and its programme partners and subcontractors. This endeavour, the only one of its kind in Europe, will culminate in 2018 with the market launch of the first comprehensive software-designed radio network, a core component of the defence systems of the future.
• CONTACT is the only program of such magnitude in Europe.
• At the same time, Thales and its European ESSOR partners are pursuing the development of the ESSOR standard and the associated interoperable waveform. In October 2013, the first interoperability trials with equipment from different nations were successfully completed.

Thales, international champion, partner of national development programmes

• Thales software-designed radios will support the PR4G F@stnet waveforms, deployed around the world, and other existing waveforms, to ensure a smooth transition to software-defined radio. They will enable a wide range of configurations to meet the various operational requirements: vehicles, soldiers, aircraft, naval vessels and ground stations.
• Many countries will find answers to their questions about high-data-rate network solutions and interoperability requirements within the major NATO member states.
• Responding to the growing demands of national sovereignty, Thales is making available the tools needed to develop and engineer SDR waveforms, enabling customers around the world to support their own national waveforms.