Under the agreement, Renault Trucks Defense and Thales will propose mission systems that exploit the full potential of vehicle mobility and protection and provide real-time communications between vehicles to support shared situation awareness and cooperative engagements.
The platforms will include fighting vehicles as well as armored security vehicles equipped with a range of weapons, observation systems and communication systems depending on mission requirements.
The agreement addresses a range of operational contexts:
- Army surveillance and reconnaissance units (close-range reconnaissance, target acquisition, etc.), security forces (border surveillance, critical infrastructure, surveillance, etc.) and special forces
- Battlegroups made up of different types of combat and support vehicles
- Security and law enforcement units, particularly in urban environments
Renault Trucks Defense and Thales are already working together on digitized vehicle systems further to an initial partnership agreement for the VAB Mk3 armored personnel carrier announced at Eurosatory 2012.
Several months ago, Renault Trucks Defense launched its Battlenet Inside system. Based on electronic architectures developed by Volvo, Battlenet Inside interconnects all the systems on an armored vehicle and enables them to operate collaboratively. Drawing on electronic architectures developed for commercial markets, Battlenet Inside brings military users the benefits of COTS solutions that have been extensively tested on large fleets of commercial vehicles.
With Thales's VSYS-Net solution, vehicles are part of a complete digitized sphere of engagement, with crews working collaboratively both within vehicles and with other platforms (armored vehicles, UAVs, artillery, command centers, etc.). VSYS-Net is one of a range of battlespace digitization solutions that draw on Thales’s experience on urban security, reconnaissance vehicle and combat vehicle digitization programs in France and internationally.
Through this partnership, Renault Trucks Defense and Thales will be in a position to propose the best technical solutions and the best value for money on future programs as well as ensuring the development headroom needed to address new requirements as they emerge.
