A consortium led by Thales and CS GROUP has been notified by the French defense procurement agency (DGA) to develop and deliver the PARADE drone countermeasures program capability, with firm commitments for €33 million out of a total program budget of €350 million over 11 years.
PARADE is designed to provide a permanent deployable protection for critical infrastructure from drone threats.
The consortium will provide a scalable, modular, multi-mission drone countermeasures system to protect people, fixed military sites or facilities deployed abroad. The system can also be used by the armed forces to help protect events, people and civil and military infrastructure, in particular during large gatherings. PARADE will be a modular, multi-mission system that can be deployed by the armed forces on a temporary basis to protect a fixed site or as part of military operations overseas.
Drone countermeasures are a priority for the French government as the preparations for the 2023 Rugby World Cup and Paris 2024 Olympics continue.
The contract initially calls for the acquisition of six PARADE drone countermeasures systems. With contributions from French SMEs such as CerbAir, Exavision and MC2 Technologies, as well as the Dutch company Robin, the PARADE system will provide decision support and analysis of complex situations and the capability to neutralize micro-drones and mini-drones. The contract also includes training, maintenance and upgrades.
The first PARADE systems will be delivered to the DGA within a year of the launch of the program.
