Renault Trucks Defense and Thales said the two French companies reached a cooperation agreement on digitized vehicle systems to develop innovative solutions for defense and security forces.
Under the agreement, released Feb. 17 at IDEX in Abu Dhabi, 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 Army surveillance and reconnaissance units, close-range reconnaissance and target acquisition, and security forces such as border surveillance, critical infrastructure surveillance, and special forces.
Additionally, it addresses battle groups made up of different types of combat and support vehicles, and 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 offers the military the benefits of commercial-off-the-shelf 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, such as armored vehicles, UAVs, artillery, or command centers. 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 said they expected to be in 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.