ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) has been selected by the French defense procurement agency (DGA) to supply the French Air Force with a Ground Master 406 radar base and provide on-site support at Nice Mont-Agel airbase.

Awarded on September 7, 2012, the contract calls for the supply and installation of a Ground Master 406 (GM 406), associated civil engineering, through-life support for three years with guaranteed operational availability of 98%, and information system security for the radar base.

This new-generation radar, the cornerstone of France's airspace surveillance capability, will be integrated with the air defense network of the SCCOA air command and control system to provide airspace monitoring, which is a high-priority mission under the country's Permanent Security Posture (PSP). France has already acquired a radar station based on the GM 406 that will be part of the protection of the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

The new GM 406 radar will be coupled with the NATO ACCS C2 centers, the SCCOA system and C3M system (the deployable component of the French SCCOA program) centers as well as Navy and Army installations.

The GM 406 is part of the ThalesRaytheonSystems family of fully digital 3D air defense radars. The Ground Master radars are a range of versatile air defense radars dedicated to the protection of key assets and expeditionary forces.

These systems are specifically designed to deliver high detection performance, high track accuracy suitable for weapon assignment, high operational availability and simplified maintenance as well as high mobility. They are able to detect a vast array of modern threats, including UAVs, missiles, mortars and rockets, from very low to very high altitude.

Introduced in 2008, the Ground Master 400 has been selected by Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Malaysia, Slovenia and a number of undisclosed countries.

“We are delighted that the DGA has selected the Ground Master as the first new-generation radar to provide airspace protection in metropolitan France. With the Ground Master 406, France will benefit from superior detection performance at low and high altitudes, higher availability and simplified maintenance,” said Philippe Duhamel, CEO, ThalesRaytheonSystems, French Operations.