India has been singled out as a strong potential naval market for Thales' new IFF Mode 5 interrogator

The recently launched Thales E-Scan lightweight TSA-6000 identification friend foe (IFF) Mode 5 interrogator, being integrated onto the French Navy’s new FDI frigates alongside Thales’ Sea Fire radar, is also being aimed at the Indian Navy (IN) as per reports.

To answer the latest needs in terms of naval air defence identification Thales has unveiled its new TSA 6000 IFF, based on four flat panel AESA antennas operating simultaneously, each providing a coverage of around 100°, that can be easily integrated in any ship structure in order to provide full 360° coverage, the declared range being 360 km .

“This new system will allow to take more accurate and faster decisions,” Marie-Pierre Guilbert, Thales IFF Product Line Manager said, underlining that the first application of this new system will be on French Navy the delivery of the first-of-class being forecasted for 2024. Thereafter, one of Thales major potential customers would be the Indian Navy which is keen to upgrade its IFF portfolio.

“The adoption of AESA flat panel antennas provide considerable advantages in terms of quick response compared to rotating IFFs,” Mrs. Guilbert added, “but also provide improved availability and unmatched reliability.” Giving away all mechanical parts considerably reduces the chances for failures, hence MTBCF is much higher, over 5,000 hours; not only, HUMS (Health and Usage Monitoring Systems) have been inserted, allowing predictive maintenance, thus further increasing availability. All this also allows to reduce cost of ownership. Flat panel antennas, which can be installed in a totally independent way compared to the on board radar, even if the latter is based on AESA flat panel antennas, also contribute to reduce as much as possible the ship radar signature, while their overall weight, around 220 kg, is much lesser than the average available IFF system of that same class, according to Thales.

Identifying air targets after they have been detected is crucially important in the theatre of operations, and naval forces need to be able to rely on new technology to make the right decisions when it matters most.

Thales developed the TSA-6000 to help them conduct their critical missions more safely. The system is the first Mode 5/Mode S compliant IFF interrogator to use flat, fixed-panel active array antenna technology. This unique new solution provides 360° coverage around the vessel, with no trade-off in range capabilities, and an unprecedented and extremely fast identification capability.

The TSA-6000 brings naval forces a secure, highly reliable, robust and interoperable IFF identification solution.

Features:

Selected by the French Navy
Electronic scanning technology for agile, smart operation
Very fast identification of targets
360° coverage (with four panels)
Easy to integrate
- compact, lightweight panels
- flexible panel positioning
- Ethernet link
Permanent system availability and increased maintainability
High growth potential to meet future requirements

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