Telespazio, Airbus to provide satellite surveillance to French Navy

The French Navy has recently awarded a four year contract to a consortium of Telespazio France and Airbus Defence and Space to provide a satellite-based maritime surveillance service.

Under the Trimaran 2 contract, a follow-up to Trimaran 1, maritime zone commanders will have access to a portal for surveillance services using optical and radar imaging and AIS (Automatic Identification System) data to enhance the effectiveness of their national maritime missions.

Through a dedicated portal, each of the French Navy’s maritime command zones will have access to the extensive acquisition capacity of the satellites. The radar and optical satellite images will be interpreted by the image analysts at Telespazio France and Airbus Defence and Space as soon as they are received and correlated with the AIS data. Reports will then be produced and sent to the users, once again via the portal, indicating the types of vessels detected, their position, speed and heading.

“With our partners at Airbus Defence and Space, we are very proud to have provided the French Navy with a highly reliable portfolio of naval surveillance services. After several years of cooperation between the Telespazio Group and the European Maritime Safety Agency, this new contract is a testament to the operational expertise of our teams and the unparalleled contribution to satellite services for French Navy personnel,” explained Jean-Marc Gardin, Chairman and CEO of Telespazio France.