Early threat detection for vehicles protection

Modern armed forces need to know that their combat vehicles are protected as effectively as possible in a wide range of conflict scenarios (urban, asymmetrical, high-intensity, etc.). Thales’s vehicle optronics portfolio includes a range of systems and equipment designed to protect vehicles and crews by providing early warning and location of threats, and enabling countermeasures to be initiated manually or automatically.

Our vehicle optronics threat detection solutions for vehicles protection provide acoustic shot detection, laser warning and grenade launch capabilities for the full spectrum of military vehicle platforms.

Thales’s vehicle self-protection systems and equipment enhance survivability by boosting situational awareness, notifying crews if their vehicle is targeted by a laser rangefinder or designator, or alerting them to incoming enemy fire, and locating the threats. At the heart of all of the Thales products in the range are state-of-the art sensors – thermal imagers, laser warning detectors, acoustic sensors.

The ANTARES system is a game-changing concept, combining 360-degree LSA and laser warning into a single high-end product. Our range of vehicle self-protection solutions even extends to “soft-kill” active protection, in the shape of Cerberus, a combined grenade launcher and laser warning system.

Thales’s long history of successful collaboration with armed forces around the world makes us a trusted supplier of optronic self-protection systems for combat vehicles. Our Acusonic and ANTARES products, for example, have been integrated into vehicle platforms for the British and French armies, while variants of our grenade launcher systems are installed on every armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) currently in service with the UK armed forces.

Our suite of self-protection products acts as vehicle users’ eyes and ears in the field, detecting incoming fire as well as laser targeting, and providing hemispheric coverage.

These powerful capabilities improve combat vehicles’ capacity to engage threats, while enhancing survivability and giving vehicle crews the best possible chance of completing their missions successfully. Our track record and recognised expertise in all the key technologies make Thales a low-risk partner for platform manufacturers and armed forces looking for leading-edge vehicle-mounted self-protection technology.

In the future, active protection will come increasingly to the fore. Electro-optical (EO) sensors will detect inbound projectiles, and local situational awareness (LSA) and protection systems will be incorporated into integrated active protection, surveillance and sighting systems within a collaborative combat environment.

Thales’s flagship optronics products and product families for vehicle self-protection include the following :

• The ANTARES integrated Local Situational Awareness and laser warning system (also part of our DVE and LSA offering).
• The Acusonic acoustic shot detection system, which offers detection capability for multiple threats by capturing and analysing acoustic profiles of incoming fire.
• Laser warning systems for real-time threat detection (crew are notified when their vehicle is targeted by laser rangefinders and designators).
• Grenade launcher systems for deploying smoke grenades as a countermeasure against incoming threats.