Back to news

November 5, 2020 | International, Naval

La France choisit Thales pour son système de lutte anti-mines du futur

SIMON CHODORGE , , , ,

PUBLIÉ LE 04/11/2020 À 08H08, MIS À JOUR LE 04/11/2020 À 09H17

Le gouvernement a annoncé le 3 novembre le lancement de la réalisation du système de lutte anti-mines futur (ou SLAM-F). Thales a déjà construit un prototype dans le cadre de ce programme d'armement innovant.

Le système de lutte anti-mines futur (ou SLAM-F) se précise. Mardi 3 novembre, le gouvernement a officialisé “le lancement en réalisation” du programme d'armement. Dès 2022, la Marine nationale s'équipera de drones sous-marins et de surface pour affronter la guerre des mines.

À quoi va servir le SLAM-F ?

“Le SLAM-F remplacera à terme tous les moyens actuels de guerre des mines (chasseurs de mines tripartites, b'timents remorqueurs de sonars, b'timents bases de plongeurs démineurs)”, rappelle le ministère des Armées dans un communiqué. Concrètement, il permettra aux forces françaises de neutraliser des mines à distance à l'aide de drones, afin de ne plus exposer des plongeurs ou des marins.

“Ce système nous permettra de détecter des objets de la taille d'une carte bleue – c'est 30 fois plus petit qu'avec nos moyens actuels. Notre capacité de détection et de neutralisation ira jusqu'à 300 mètres de fond, contre seulement une centaine de mètres avec nos moyens actuels", détaillait la ministre des Armées, Florence Parly, lors d'un discours en mai.

Les drones démineurs du programme auront notamment pour mission d'assurer la sécurité d'unités stratégiques de l'armée française : celle des sous-marins nucléaires lanceurs d'engins (SNLE), piliers de la dissuasion nucléaire, ou encore celle du porte-avions Charles de Gaulle. Le ministère des Armées mentionne aussi des usages pour protéger l'accès aux ports français, soutenir le déploiement d'une force d'action navale, sécuriser l'évacuation de ressortissants français ou participer à la prévention de crises.

Un programme d'armement à plusieurs étages

Comme le système de combat aérien du futur (SCAF), le SLAM-F comportera plusieurs volets. Au coeur de cette architecture, on retrouve des systèmes de drones capables d'être opérés depuis la terre ferme ou depuis un navire militaire dédié. La France et le Royaume-Uni collaborent depuis 2012 sur ce volet baptisé MMCM (pour “Maritime mines counter measures”).

En 2015, le groupe français de défense Thales avait été désigné chef de fil industriel de ce volet. “L'étude de définition et la réalisation des prototypes du système de drones ont été confiés à Thales, dont la société Études et constructions aéronautiques [ECA, filiale du groupe Gorgé] sera le principal sous-traitant français”, confirme le ministère des Armées dans son communiqué.

Thales avait déjà testé un chasseur de mines ultra-moderne en 2019 en collaboration avec la Marine nationale. Le groupe français fait figure de champion dans ce domaine. "Plus de 30 marines dans le monde sont équipées de sonars de guerre des mines Thales", soulignait Florence Parly en mai.

Des livraisons prévues jusqu'en 2030

Le SLAM-F contient trois autres volets : des b'timents de guerre des mines (BGDM) dédiés à la conduite et à la mise en oeuvre des drones, des b'timents bases de plongeurs démineurs nouvelle génération (BBPD NG) et enfin un système d'exploitation des données de guerre des mines (SEDGM).

Dans son communiqué, le ministère ne nomme pas d'autres entreprises participant à ce projet. “L'organisation industrielle de SLAM-F sera progressivement définie lors de l'attribution des marchés afférents aux différents volets du programme”, indique simplement le gouvernement.

Le calendrier du SLAM-F prévoit la livraison de huit systèmes de drones anti-mines à partir de 2022. À l'horizon 2030, quatre à six BGDM devraient compléter les flottes françaises avec cinq BBPD NG.

https://www.usinenouvelle.com/editorial/la-france-choisit-thales-pour-son-systeme-de-lutte-anti-mines-du-futur.N1024039

On the same subject

  • Air Force moves to enact space acquisition reforms, despite hold up of legislative proposals

    August 6, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    Air Force moves to enact space acquisition reforms, despite hold up of legislative proposals

    Nathan Strout WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is trying to move ahead with reforms to how it acquires space systems, even as a report outlining significant legislative changes has gotten held up by the Office of Management and Budget. Released in May, the Department of the Air Force report recommends nine specific proposals to improve contracting under the newly established U.S. Space Force. While most of the changes can be undertaken independently by the Department of Defense, three recommendations would require legislative action by Congress. But according to Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration Shawn Barnes, the report has yet to get past OMB, which oversees the President's budget proposals and ensures legislation proposed by agencies is consistent with the administration. “[It's] still not on the hill. I'm a little frustrated by that, but I think we're very close with OMB at this point and I think we're just about there,” said Barnes during a July 30 call with reporters. “There are a couple of sticking points, but I'm not going to talk about those directly here.” Barnes continued on to say that OMB had no issues with the vast majority of the report. And while the Air Force has to wait for legislative action on some recommendations, Barnes said they are already moving ahead with internal reforms, such as establishing a distinct Space Force budget. “We're in the process of figuring out how to implement those actions within the alt-acquisition report that don't require any legislative change, and of the somewhat less than ten of those specific actions, probably six of them are within the Department of Defense's ability to get after. So we're building implementation plans for that,” he said. The most important recommendation in the report, at least according to the Air Force, is budgetary. They want to be able to consolidate Space Force budget line items along mission portfolios, such as missile warning or communications, instead of by platforms, allowing them more flexibility to move funding between related systems without having to submit reprogramming requests to Congress. This was a point of contention between the Pentagon and legislators last year, as the Air Force issued repeated reprogramming requests to secure the funding needed to push up the delivery date of the first Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared satellite. Barnes insisted that managing funding at the portfolio would give the Space Force more flexibility to react to program developments without sacrificing transparency. While funding would not longer be broken out at the program level, it could still be expressed at a lower level, he said. “We would still be breaking it down at a subordinate level but what we would hope is that we would have the ability to still move money from one of those subordinate levels to another, and that's where we can have that transparency,” he explained. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/07/30/air-force-moves-to-enact-space-acquisition-reforms-despite-hold-up-of-legislative-proposals

  • Space Force’s stopgap polar communications system passes another milestone

    July 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace

    Space Force’s stopgap polar communications system passes another milestone

    Nathan Strout The U.S. Space Force's stopgap Arctic communications system has passed another major milestone, with it's Control and Planning Segment (CAPS) ground system passing a critical design review. The Space and Missile Systems Center said officials completed a “delta critical design review” of Enhanced Polar System Recapitalization's (EPS-R) CAPS design June 25. In a press release, SMC noted the assessment included three months of review by the government and contractor teams, covering areas of risk, software and hardware requirement traceability, testing, performance, cost and schedule. Slated to launch in late 2022, the EPS-R payloads will fill a vital gap in providing secure communications for war fighters in the Arctic. The constellation it's replacing, the Enhanced Polar System (EPS) is not expected to last until the polar components of the Protected Tactical SATCOM and Evolved Strategic SATCOM are fielded in the 2030s, and so EPS-R will serve as a stopgap measure in the interim. Both EPS-R and EPS are effectively the Arctic components of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency constellation. Northrop Grumman was awarded a $429 million contract for the two EPS-R payloads in February 2018. The payloads will be hosted on two Space Norway satellites. The EPS-R payloads passed critical design review in October. Northrop Grumman was also awarded an $87 million contract in May 2019 to design and build the Control and Planning Segment (CAPS) which will manage both the EPS-R and EPS payloads. “The EPS-R program's unprecedented approach provides an advantage to warfighters in the increasingly contested Arctic region. EPS-R leverages the best practices of our industry partners, in concert with commercial space and launch vehicle providers while collaborating with our Norwegian partners. The EPS-R CAPS system will command the EPS/EPS-R constellation allowing US Space Force space operators to provide continuous communication services to Arctic users,” explained Maj. Craig Zinck, EPS-R Ground program manager, in a statement. EPS-R CAPS will now move to further testing. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/07/09/space-forces-stopgap-polar-communications-system-passes-another-milestone/

  • Poland to acquire 300 used Cougar MRAPs from the US

    November 15, 2021 | International, Land

    Poland to acquire 300 used Cougar MRAPs from the US

    Poland's Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak has announced the country will acquire 300 second-hand Cougar mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles from the United States as part of efforts to modernize the country's land forces.

All news