The French defense procurement agency (DGA) has selected ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) to supply the French Air Force with a third Ground Master 406 radar for the Lyon Mont-Verdun airbase.

The order follows an earlier award announced on September 7, 2012 to provide an identical radar for the Nice Mont-Agel base.

The additional order, awarded on February 5, 2013, includes the supply and installation of a tower-mounted Ground Master 406 radar, 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, like the system ordered for Nice Mont-Agel, 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). The DGA had earlier acquired a radar base equipped with a Ground Master 406 to protect the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana, and a GM 403 mobile radar. The new radars will provide the armed forces with a guaranteed threat detection capability at low and high altitudes, high operational availability and simplified maintenance.

The 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.

Like the installations at Nice Mont-Agel, the Lyon Mont-Verdun radar base will feature advanced security solutions to protect armed forces missions from potential threats to information systems and data integrity, ensuring that air command and control systems can continue to provide effective air defense protection for an area, region or country under all circumstances.

“This additional order for a new-generation radar confirms the trust that the DGA and the French Armed Forces continue to place in the radar systems developed by TRS and Thales. We are delighted that the GM 406 has been selected to equip the Lyon Mont-Verdun air force base, which is one of the cornerstones of France’s airspace surveillance capability,” said Philippe Duhamel, CEO of ThalesRaytheonSystems France.

The Ground Master 400 is part of the ThalesRaytheonSystems family of fully digital 3D air defense radars. The Ground Master radars are a range of versatile, multi-role 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.