Redefining Naval warfare through advanced airborne autonomy

• Surveillance and intelligence
• Drone warfare
• Electronic warfare

FLEXIBLE DRONE INTEGRATION FOR NAVAL AGILITY

Thales seamlessly integrates drones into the naval force, offering unparalleled agility by enabling rapid re-role and reallocation of uncrewed systems across warfare domains-whether for mine warfare (MW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), or electronic warfare (EW). This modular approach ensures that naval forces can adapt their drone fleets to evolving missions without operational disruption.

PERSISTENT OVERWATCH AND EXTENDED REACH

Advanced rotary-wing and fixed-wing UAS (Uncrewed Air Systems) extend the eyes and ears of the fleet far beyond the horizon. These systems minimise personnel exposure to high-risk environments while ensuring a continuous flow of critical information to decision-makers.

A prime example is the Peregrine solution for autonomous maritime ISR with the UK Royal Navy, which demonstrates Thales' ability to deliver persistent, high-endurance surveillance with minimal human oversight. The evolution of this system illustrates how autonomy can maintain a continuous watch over vast maritime areas with different payloads to fulfil a variety of roles, even in the most demanding conditions.

USV can bring the same sorts of benefits in Mine warfare delivering persistent high endurance mine counter measures

NETWORKED BATTLESPACE FOR NAVAL DOMINANCE

The true revolution lies in the networking of the maritime battlespace. By seamlessly integrating uncrewed platforms with crewed assets- from surface combatants to maritime patrol aircraft -naval forces achieve unprecedented levels of shared situational awareness.

Thales's distributed, data-centric architecture takes over, autonomously fusing data from multiple sources at the edge. This results in a unified operational picture that enables faster, more coordinated responses across the different units operating in theatre.

No naval system operates in isolation. Thales' solutions are designed to interoperate with tactical units across the force, national command systems and allied coalition frameworks. By leveraging the strengths of every platform, Thales empowers naval forces to fight as one, achieving decisive overmatch in the most complex and dynamic environments.

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AI-DRIVEN DECISION SUPERIORITY AT THE TACTICAL EDGE

In Thales' layered autonomy approach AI is embedded at multiple levels of the system to accelerate the decision loop on the battlefield and operate with resilience. At sensor level, AI applications such as SERI or GOLDEN AI for EW, SMART radar reduce operator burden and accelerate classification and identification.

Meanwhile, advanced software-enabled capabilities like the ISTAR Node Edge Processor enable the rapid integration and upgrade of AI and autonomous capabilities, ensuring they have the right data to make decisions. Critically, it enables UAS to continue their missions even if the link to human operators is degraded or denied.

Thales' cortAIx autonomy stack further enhances this capability, enabling "commanded, not controlled" operations. Operators define the mission intent, while the autonomous system handles execution-dramatically reducing response times and cognitive workload.

FROM PASSIVE OBSERVATION TO ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT

Today's autonomous systems do more than sense the battlefield-they can execute precision strikes, deploy electronic warfare (EW) measures, and engage threats with only essential human intervention. Thales' solutions, such as the BeamTracker or EagleTracker for EW and advanced radar systems like I-Master or AirMaster C, or containerised solutions on USV (Captas, Sentinel) enable naval forces to:

• Detect and classify threats with unparalleled accuracy, even in cluttered or contested electromagnetic environments.
• Disrupt adversary communications and sensors through cutting-edge EW payloads, ensuring spectrum dominance.
• Anticipate the Engagement of targets autonomously when necessary, reducing the cognitive load on operators while increasing mission success rates.

INERTIAL SOLUTIONS DELIVERING RESILIENT NAVIGATION

Positioning and navigation capabilities are widely met by satellite constellations such as GPS and GNSS but Thales provides the means to ensure that naval forces can operate effectively and safely without relying on satellite positioning data in the event of signal degradation, whether deliberate (jamming, decoying and cyber attacks) or unintentional (technical failure or extreme conditions).

Thales offers a wide range of technologies for Resilient Position, Navigation and Timing requirements including robust navigation systems, anti-jamming and inertial systems, built around the TopAxyz range of laser gyro inertial units.

THE FUTURE OF NAVAL WARFARE IS AUTONOMOUS

Distributed airborne autonomy is more than just a technological leap-it is a strategic shift in how naval warfare is conducted. By combining persistence, precision, and collaborative intelligence, Thales enables naval forces to:

• See deeper with advanced sensors and AI-driven analytics.
• Decide faster with real-time data fusion and edge processing.
• Strike smarter with semi-autonomous engagement and electronic warfare dominance.

As the operational environment continues to evolve, the need for integrated, networked, and autonomous solutions will only grow. Thales stands ready to deliver the capabilities naval forces need to succeed in the battles of today and tomorrow.

Thales: Your trusted partner in naval autonomy and electronic warfare dominance.