ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) recently said that in collaboration with Thales Germany, it has been selected by the German Federal Office for Defense Technology and Procurement under an approximately $140 million contract to supply six Ground Master 400 (GM 400) long-range air defense radars for the Aktives Radarrundsuchgerat fur den Einsatzfuhrungsdienst (ARED) program.

ThalesRaytheonSystems and Thales Germany will work with local German companies, including SERCO GmbH located in Bonn and EADS Deutschland GmbH in Unterschleissheim, to replace the six Thales Medium-Power Radars (MPR) supplied in the late-1970s. TRS is contracted to supply the new radars by 2015.

“ThalesRaytheonSystems’ accurate, reliable Ground Master radar systems are capable of detecting both traditional and unconventional threats for homeland and tactical air defense,” said Philippe Duhamel, CEO, ThalesRaytheonSystems, French Operations. “TRS is proud to have been selected by the German Federal Office for Defense Technology and Procurement to update their air defense system as the GM 400 will offer Germany high reliability and outstanding performance.”

The GM 400 is part of ThalesRaytheonSystems’ fully digital 3D air defense Ground Master radar family. Since the product launch in 2008, the GM 400 radar has been acquired by Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Malaysia and Slovenia. The radars are currently in production at the Thales factory site in Limours, France.

Set up nine years ago, Raytheon and Thales jointly own the international ThalesRaytheonSystems that specializes in air defense systems, command and control systems, 3D air defense radars, and battlefield and counter-battery radars.