Thales

Thales is a defense electronics company in aerospace and defense industries. It came into being with the merger of Alcatel, Dassault Electronic and Thomson CSF and inherited the latter company’s naval activity, which it has developed in recent years. Thales now operates in 50 countries and has become a leading player in the defense industry.

Spotlight SAUDI ARABIA UNITED STATES 25/09/2013

Riyadh rethinks military without US 

US moves in the region in the past couple of years have prompted some serious thought in Saudi Arabia: Despite the two countries' alliance, would Barack Obama intervene militarily if the Saudi monarchy came under threat? Doubts have been fuelled [...]

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES EUROPEUNITED STATES 25/09/2013

Satellites: for a few centimetres less 

Commercial satellite operators are fighting to convince governments to allow them to sell lower resolution imagery. [...]

FRANCE KURDISTAN 25/09/2013

Boris Boillon’s missions in Erbil 

The probe into the cash that former French ambassador Boris Boillon was carrying when he was stopped by customs on [...]

UNITED KINGDOM 25/09/2013

Gordon Rainey 

Gordon Rainey and Simon King, two former staffers of Pelorus [...]

Spotlight UNITED KINGDOM 28/08/2013

Rolls-Royce overhauls sales practices 

Rolls-Royce has long been renowned for its aggressive and somewhat "creative" commercial practices but, now under scrutiny, the car and aircraft engine manufacturer is having to rethink the way its agents work. A review the company is making under its [...]

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 24/07/2013

Thales and Astrium’s partners 

One of many questions that remains unanswered in the wake [...]

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 24/07/2013

Astrium won - or did Digital Globe lose?  Free

The French defence ministry has insistently trumpeted minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's role in EADs Astrium and Thales Alenia Space obtaining [...]

Insiders ASIAEUROPE 18/07/2013

Dick Evans, the Kazakhstan connections of an arms industry high-flier 

After having served as the high profile chairman and chief executive of BAE Systems from 1998 to 2004, Richard "Dick" Evans has been putting his talents to use in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. President Nursultan Nazarbayev recruited him in October 2006 to run the country's sovereign fund, Samruk. Then, in 2008, he became an independent director of Samruk-Kazyna, which was formed through the merg [...]

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES FRANCE 10/07/2013

Le Drian's French satellite hard-sell 

French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian took Thales chief executive [...]

CANADA FRANCE 10/07/2013

New software provides smartphone security 

Companies can now buy software programs that make mobile telephones secure. [...]

Insiders FRANCE MIDDLE EAST 02/07/2013

Iskandar Safa, deep sea stealth networking 

Iskandar Safa, who earned his nickname of Sandy during his youth as part of the Lebanese Christian militia, is an export agent who switched successfully to industry but who, in 2013, is still active as a business intermediary. As an industrialist, he reigns over a veritable shipbuilding empire which produces yachts and patrol boats. He has owned Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie (CMN) in Cherb [...]

Spotlight FRANCE QATAR 26/06/2013

Soulié, deal broker for French groups 

Qatar, which President François Hollande visited on June 22-23, is not only Paris' ally in the Middle East and a principal foreign investor in France, it is also a key country for French groups such as Thales and Total. French [...]

UNITED KINGDOM 26/06/2013

"Dr Amin", the offset consultant 

Amin Badr El Din, who devised the United Arab Emirates' offset programme, is now in the private sector marketing his know-how as a consultant to governments. [...]

FRANCE 12/06/2013

Reaper doth not come 

The Direction du Renseignement Militaire (DRM) thinks it will not have the two Reaper MQ-9 drones it has ordered from [...]

FRANCE 12/06/2013

Watchkeeper tested 

While the French government grapples with its MALE drone issues, [...]

SAUDI ARABIA FRANCE 29/05/2013

Mohamed bin Nayef 

Mohamed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia's interior minister, attended a gala [...]

FRANCE 15/05/2013

Decision time for SOFEMA 

SOFEMA, the former French state owned military exports agency, seems poised for a shareholder shakeup. The company’s board meets on June 3. [...]

FRANCE 15/05/2013

Soulie's last stand 

French consultant Jean-Paul Soulie, still unstoppable at 70, is trying to mobilise his old network of contacts in Canada to [...]

Insiders EUROPEMIDDLE EAST 14/05/2013

Dominique de Villepin, businessman poet 

Since 2008, Dominique de Villepin has been reaping the benefits of a network of business contacts built up over 30 years in the corridors of power. His law firm, Villepin international, which opened in April 2008, is devoted to his new profession of business facilitator. De Villepin, who was Jacques Chirac's prime minister from 2005 to 2007, is discreet about the identities of his customers and th [...]

QATAR 24/04/2013

Thales and Soulie settle, say sources 

Thales has reached an out-of-court financial settlement with consultant Jean-Paul [...]