French Navy strengthens anti-submarine warfare capabilities with SonoFlash sonobuoy from Thales
18.3.2021 14:54:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
The French Navy has selected the SonoFlash new-generation sonobuoy from Thales. Unveiled at the Euronaval show in October 2018, SonoFlash will enable France to reach its strategic capability goal for acoustic sensors.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210318005484/en/
Artist’s impression of a SonoFlash sonobuoy at sea © Thales
The threat posed by submarines is evolving rapidly. Three decades ago, only the superpowers had a true undersea warfare capability, but numerous countries now deploy modern submarine fleets. At the same time, forces increasingly operate in littoral waters, which are much more complex for sonar systems, rather than in the relative certainty of open-ocean environments.
Responding to this evolving threat environment, Thales developed the SonoFlash buoy, a new-generation sonobuoy with an unequalled performance-to-mass ratio that builds on decades of expertise in sonars and acoustic sensors to offer an ambitious new solution.
Its innovative design and advanced technology include a number of key features to deliver unrivalled performance. Today's sonobuoys are either passive or active. By contrast, the SonoFlash buoy offers the best of both modes, combining a powerful, optimised low-frequency transmitter with a high-directivity passive receiver. With the combination of these two capabilities, and the added advantage of long endurance, the SonoFlash buoy is suitable for a wide array of deployment scenarios.
Fully compatible with the other families of Thales sonars, the SonoFlash buoy offers high tactical flexibility and opens up promising new opportunities for multistatic operation. Coupled with the FLASH dipping sonar, for example, the SonoFlash buoy enables an aircraft to expand its coverage area and respond with greater agility to evasive manoeuvres by a submarine. Thanks to its digitised signal and optimal communication range, the SonoFlash buoy data can be readily exploited by any piloted or remotely piloted aircraft, naval vessel or shore centre equipped with a sonobuoy processing system.
The French Navy will be the first operational user of the SonoFlash buoy, which will be deployed by the modernised Atlantique 2 maritime patrol aircraft and NH90 Caiman tactical transport helicopters. It will be delivered to the Navy from 2025 and could be available in export markets to equip all modern maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters as well as all types of unmanned platforms, including autonomous surface vehicles and rotary-wing (VTOL) and fixed-wing UAVs equipped with a suitable multi-sonobuoy dispenser.
Manufactured in France with a network of SMEs such as TELERAD, SelhaGroup and Realmeca, the SonoFlash buoy relies on Thales’s expertise in acoustic sensor technology to contribute to France’s desire for independence in strategic industries.
“Thales has packed 10 years of innovation in hardware and digital technologies into a tube measuring 91.4 cm long and 12.3 cm in diameter. SonoFlash extends the range of a naval force's anti-submarine warfare operations, outclassing all other sonobuoys in the market today and offering a versatile and easy-to-deploy solution for tracking submarines from any piloted or remotely piloted aircraft, frigate or unmanned surface vehicle. We are grateful to the DGA and the Navy for the trust they have placed in us and delighted to be working with French partner SMEs to bring this project to a successful conclusion and restore France's sovereign capabilities in sonobuoys.” Alexis Morel, VP Underwater Systems, Thales.
About Thales
Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is a global leader in advanced technologies, investing in digital and “deep tech” innovations – connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum computing – to build a confident future crucial for the development of our societies. The Group provides its customers – businesses, organisations and governments – in the defense, aeronautics, space, transport, and digital identity and security domains with solutions, services and products that help them fulfil their critical role, consideration for the individual being the driving force behind all decisions.
Thales has 81,000 employees in 68 countries. In 2020 the Group generated sales of €17 billion.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210318005484/en/
Contact information
Thales, Media Relations
Land and Naval Defence
Faïza Zaroual
+33 (0)7 64 25 99 31
faiza.zaroual@thalesgroup.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Vertex Presents New Data on ALYFTREK ® at European Cystic Fibrosis Conference5.6.2026 19:00:00 EEST | Press release
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced data demonstrating the potentially transformative impact of treating cystic fibrosis (CF) with ALYFTREK ® (vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor) in children ages 2 to 5, as well as data from 96-week interim analyses of two open-label extension studies of ALYFTREK in children 6 to 11 years and people 12 years and older demonstrating the long-term safety and efficacy profile of the medicine. The data, presented at the European Cystic Fibrosis Conference, show children ages 2 to 5 with vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor-responsive genotypes including those who are homozygous for the F508del mutation (F/F) and those who have F508del/minimal function mutations (F/MF)on ALYFTREK had further improvement in CFTR function from a TRIKAFTA ® baseline as measured by sweat chloride (SwCl), with 65% having achieved SwCl <30 mmol/L after treatment with ALYFTREK. Vertex also presented Phase 3 data of children ages 1 to <2 with TRIKAF
Owkin to Build AI Agents as Part of a Multi-Year K Pro Collaboration with Sanofi5.6.2026 14:00:00 EEST | Press release
Owkin, the agentic AI company pioneering Biological Artificial Superintelligence to transform drug discovery and development, today announced a multi-year collaboration with Sanofi to co-develop next-generation biopharma agents, to be backed by a five-year license for K Pro, Owkin’s AI Scientist. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260605704506/en/ K Pro, Owkin's AI scientist for biology, powered by multimodal patient data for smarter biopharma decision making. Owkin and Sanofi have collaborated since 2021 through a €90 million strategic partnership focused on target identification in oncology and patient subgrouping. The collaboration was later expanded to include drug positioning for Sanofi’s immunology pipeline. This new collaboration represents the next evolution in the partnership. During the five-year collaboration, Owkin will lead the end-to-end development of novel AI-driven biopharma agents purpose-built
DFNS Rebrands as the Core Banking Platform for Digital Assets5.6.2026 13:41:00 EEST | Press release
DFNS today announced a rebrand, marking its evolution from a wallet infrastructure to the first core banking platform for digital assets. The company is introducing a new logo, website, and market position as fintechs and institutions move their products and operations onchain. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260603859127/en/ Banks, fintechs, asset managers, trading firms, payment providers, market infrastructures, and clearing houses have stopped asking how to "add crypto." They're asking how to run financial products, controls, workflows, and client services on blockchain rails, with the reliability expected of core infrastructure. Some are going further still, exploring whether the blockchain can serve as the ledger itself, where an account is an onchain object rather than a row in a database. Where IBANs, virtual accounts, and blockchain wallets converge into one governed financial account. “DFNS was built
Compass Pathways Announces New Employee Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)5.6.2026 13:30:00 EEST | Press release
Compass Pathways plc (Nasdaq: CMPS), a biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health, announced today that Compass granted equity awards under the Compass Pathways plc 2026 Inducement Plan to seventeen newly hired non-executive employees. The equity awards were granted on June 1, 2026 and consisted of options to purchase an aggregate of 157,000 shares and restricted share units or, in the case of employees in the United Kingdom nominal cost options, covering an aggregate of 74,700 shares. The options have an exercise price per share equal to $14.19, the closing price of the Company’s American Depositary Shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on the grant date, and will vest over a four-year period with 25% vesting on the first anniversary of the date of the grant and the remaining 75% vesting in equal monthly installments over the three-year period thereafter, subject to each employee’s continued employment. The restrict
Renewable Electricity, Soft Wheat Flour From Regenerative Agriculture, Initiatives to Support Local Communities: Barilla Shares These and Other Projects in “Stories of Sustainability.”5.6.2026 11:00:00 EEST | Press release
A slimmer Tagliatelle pack that saves 150 tons of cardboard and cuts transport-related CO₂ emissions by 20%1; ready-made sauce jars made with around 65% recycled glass; the progressive scaling of regenerative agriculture practices across Barilla’s value chain and initiatives supporting inclusion and equal opportunities across the Group’s production sites and communities. These are just some of the “sustainability” stories the Barilla Group is sharing on World Environment Day with the publication of its 2025 Sustainability Report. The report comes just after Barilla was named the world’s most reputable company in the food sector for the third year running and, for the first time, ranked among the global top 10 in the Global RepTrak 100 2026. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260603162436/en/ “The future of the planet will increasingly depend on our ability to spread culture and education,” says Paolo Barilla, Vic
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom