Thales

Spotlight | France
Blast off for Finance Ministry's space industry strategy relaunch

Aware that its space industry is lagging behind and that its position as leader in the sector has been weakened, France is mandating seven emerging companies to redefine its strategy. This comes at a time where mistrust surrounds the sector's traditional key players.

France, Indonesia
Steinberg Protocol helps French defence industry land contracts in Jakarta

The Indonesian group led by Frenchman Guillaume Catala is well aware of the French component of Jakarta's spending spree on military equipment in the face of China, and its business diplomacy arm, IBP Partners, has positioned itself as the go-to contact for French arms groups in the country.

Europe
Coastal surveillance struggles to find solutions to wind power interference

European countries are trying to find ways to counter the problems the growth of offshore wind farms on the continent's coasts pose to radar surveillance systems, and which defence and security companies are still struggling to resolve effectively.

France, Turkey
Thales quietly teams with Turkish Defense industry on new spy ship

The MIT's first intelligence corvette, which launched last month, was built by Turkish defence companies and Yaltes, the local subsidiary of Thales. The vessel signals Turkish intelligence's growing activity in the Mediterranean, where it is competing against France.

France
GEOS looks to make mark in diplomatic security with Atlas

Didier Bolleli's private security firm GEOS, a subsidiary of ADIT, has bought its competitor Atlas, grabbing a larger share of French diplomatic security contracts.

France, UAE
France's Yogosha moves in as UAE readies to launch bug bounty platform

The French start-up, whose international aspirations have primarily taken it to the United Arab Emirates, will be launching a new investment round with help from Ryder & Davis.

France
Construction conglomerates fight for pole position to build intel services' new HQs

France's internal and external intelligence agencies have begun drawing up plans for their future headquarters, to be located at either end of Paris. Both are now in the process of selecting constructors for these two major public contracts.

The Corporate Intelligence Village Voice
Risk&Co, Inter-Mediate, Thales

Appointments, financial results, new contracts: each week, we report on events both big and small that matter in the global corporate intelligence community. This week we go to Paris and London.

ParisLe Floch's arrival helps Risk & Co further accentuate its shift towards cyber.

LondonThales adviser Lord Nick Houghton questions AUKUS in the House of Lords.

LondonGilles de Kerchove begins his reconversion at Inter-Mediate.

Spotlight | France, India
Thales's offshore payments system exposed by court case brought by former agent in India

In an article in Britain's Daily Telegraph on 11 January, Thales's former agent in India has upped the pressure on the French defence electronics group, from which he is claiming €11m before the French courts.

France
ChapsVision takes up strong position in interceptions thanks to Elektron takeover

ChapsVision, which is determined to take up a dominant position among French cyber intelligence industry, has taken control of French interceptions specialist Elektron from the waning Nexa Technologies group.

Spotlight | UAE
Al Muhairi's dreams of cyber empire with KBBO come crashing down

The flamboyant businessman's path towards building a cyber empire in the Gulf with help from Western partners appears to have left him bankrupt.

Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia
LODI loses battle for damages over Riyadh and Cairo ODAS defence contracts

The business diplomacy firm LODI Consulting has walked away empty-handed after a lengthy legal wrangle with the ODAS, France's military exports office.

Ukraine
SBU contract winner Altair-775 also partner of major Western cyber companies in Kyiv

Ukrainian interceptions specialist Altair-775, which is to supply its new secure information system to Ukraine's SBU internal intelligence service, is also a leading distributor for Western companies including France's Thales group. The company is also a long-standing partner of Swiss firm Crypto AG, which is close to the CIA and other Western intelligence services.

France
French prisons to get anti-drone systems

The French justice ministry has chosen French companies Cerbair, KEAS and Nuances Technologies to install anti-drone systems at French prisons. Its choice of companies is not particularly surprising but will have a structuring effect on the French anti-drone market as it waits for the much bigger contract for the defence ministry's Parade programme to be awarded.

France, Ukraine
Paris pays the price for Kyiv's ruthlessness towards Arsen Avakov

The French government will struggle to resurrect its hopes for military-industrial business opportunities in Kyiv with Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, determined to reduce the influence of the networks of former Interior minister Arsen Avakov, who was Paris's key liaison in the country.

Europe
Cysec, backed by Indian ex-hacker Rajat Khare, makes mark in European satellite cyber security

The small Swiss firm Cysec is carving a niche in European satellite security, having recently landed a fresh contract with the European Space Agency.

France, Qatar, United States
Doha-Washington honeymoon helps US firm 911 Security land football World Cup 2022 counter-drone contract

Two French consortiums appear to have been pipped to the post by the Texan firm 911 Security, thanks to the current warm relations between the US administration and Qatar.