Thales today announces the delivery to Saab AB of its Digital Joint Reconnaissance Pod (DJRP), for installation on the South African Gripen aircraft. Saab will now start a series of integration flight trials. This announcement is made on the occasion of the Africa Aerospace & Defence 2010 exhibition in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Thales DJRP completed its factory integration tests at Thales’s optronics facility in Glasgow in June and will now be installed on the Gripen platform. Handover of the reconnaissance pod to the South African Air Force (SAAF) will occur after the integration phase.
Christian Lamoureux, CEO of Thales South Africa, says: “We are proud of this important milestone in our long-standing relationship with the South African Air Force. We believe DJRP will provide significant improvement to the SAAF’s reconnaissance capability. We look forward to assist the SAAF with the exploitation of DJRP imagery through Thales-supplied exploitation systems.”
The DJRP is integrated onto fighter aircraft, such as the Gripen, and takes high-resolution images of the battlefield as it flies overhead. The digital images from the pod are then exploited by Image Analysts on the ground to assess what tactical decisions need to be taken. DJRP is an ideal solution for tactical electro-optic/infra-red reconnaissance requirements, providing simultaneous high-resolution/wide-area coverage.
Alex Cresswell, Thales Vice President in charge of Thales’s Land Defence business, says: “We are proud to continue our close co-operation with SAAB. Our DJRP provides the Gripen aircraft with an outstanding level of reconnaissance capability, combined with great value for money.”
Thales is a global technology leader for the defence & security and the aerospace & transport markets. In 2009 the company generated revenues of £11.5 billion (EUR 12.9 billion), with 68,000 employees in 50 countries. With its 25,000 engineers and researchers Thales has a unique capability to design, develop and deploy equipment, systems and services that meet the most complex security requirements. Thales has an exceptional international footprint, with operations around the world working with customers as local partners.
