Sensing modules

Thales’s sensing modules are the beating heart of our vehicle optronics product offering, helping to give users a range of powerful capabilities in the field. Our state-of-the art sensors are integrated into turrets, vehicle-mounted gimbals, remote weapon stations (RWS) and sighting systems for many of the land platforms in service with armed forces around the world.

Our comprehensive array of products includes sensor packs, cooled and uncooled thermal imagers, laser rangefinders, and laser target designators.

Land forces today are faced with a range of complex environments and combat configurations, from asymmetrical insurgency to high-intensity conflict. Thales’s sensing modules give military vehicle crews the power and flexibility to see everything they need to see, day or night, at tactical or long range, and to respond appropriately, leveraging the full potential of their platforms – in terms of speed, firepower and precision – in any environment.

The range of battlefield capabilities enabled by the Thales sensing modules offering is huge. Our Catherine family of high-definition cooled thermal imaging cameras, for example, is the most comprehensive range of its kind on the world market today. It provides the forces with the ideal combination of features and functions for long-range day/night target acquisition, fire control and surveillance applications, even in the most extreme conditions.

Thales’s Kate “all-in-one” sensor pack, meanwhile, combines a high-performance cooled or uncooled infrared sensor with a high resolution colour and near infrared TV sensor, eye-safe laser rangefinder, laser pointer and GPS. The versatile sensor pack can be used for any combination of RWS, turret, above-armour gunner’s sight and land reconnaissance applications.

Listening to users’ requirements and building their feedback into the product development process is key to Thales’s relationship with system and platform suppliers as well as the armed forces themselves. The modular design and seamless connectivity of our compact sensor products gives manufacturers and end users a wide range of options to choose from, and allows them to customise the capabilities of their turrets, vehicle-mounted gimbals, remote weapon stations (RWS) and sighting systems. Our sensing modules are installed on platforms of all types, demonstrating our ability to tailor our products to the needs of integrators, manufacturers and end users around the world.

Our commitment to providing multiple integration options for system and platform manufacturers is reflected in the design of our MELT (Miniature Eye-safe Laser Transceiver) and CELT (Compact Eye-safe Laser Transceiver) products. MELT is designed as an unpackaged module for easy integration into the architecture of a vehicle-mounted gimbal, for example, while CELT is configured as a packaged, add-on module for existing systems such as remote weapon stations to avoid the need for re-design.

With our mastery of key technologies such as thermal imaging, lasers, optics, electronics, etc., and our long experience of supplying sensors for military vehicle platforms, Thales is the trusted partner of choice for platform and system manufacturers requiring state-of-the-art, low-risk sensing modules for vehicle-mounted applications.

Thales’s key vehicle optronics sensing products and product families include the following : 

• The CATHERINE family of long-wave and medium-wave infrared cooled thermal imagers for long-range surveillance and target acquisition.
• The KATE family of integrated tactical- and long-range sensor packs for small-caliber turrets and RWS applications.
• The TIM family of uncooled single or dual field-of-view (FOV) tactical-range thermal imagers for sighting systems and surveillance applications (mainly used to deliver very accurate firing in RWS applications, as well as for land reconnaissance).
• The defence lasers family (mainly comprising laser rangefinders and laser target designators for integration into RWS, gimbal and sight systems) also includes MELT (Miniature Eye-safe Laser Transceiver) and CELT (Compact Eye-safe Laser Transceiver), designed for use with vehicle-mounted systems.