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Doha – The Royal Armed Forces have been in possession of the sophisticated French radar Ground Master 400 (GM400), which has a range of up to 500 km, since the summer of 2021. This was recently confirmed by American news outlet Politico, reporting from other sources, in an article about this French military technology that everyone is trying to acquire.
The confirmation follows a contract signed in 2019 with the French group Thales, which “ramps up production to meet massive global demand.”
These Ground Master air surveillance radars, developed and manufactured at Thales’ factory in Limours, France, are highly sought after by countries around the world for their advanced capabilities in detecting and identifying various aerial threats.
The factory, located about 50 kilometers south of Paris, is ramping up production to meet the growing global demand for these radars, which are considered a key defense technology, according to Politico.
Yves Descourvieres, the head of product management for surveillance multi-mission radars at Thales, told Politico, “for the assembly lines to cope with the increase of demand, we’re doubling the teams and are in the process of working on two shifts instead of one to make sure we have more production in Limours.”
The Ground Master radars, priced at €30 million for the GM 400 Alpha model, are designed to detect air threats and identify jet fighters, missiles, and helicopters, as reported by Politico.
They also boast new capabilities that allow them to distinguish drones from birds. Eric Marceau, the vice president of strategy for Thales’ radar business, likened the technology to “watching your garden in the dark with a torch,” but with the added power of “having 15 torches watching at the same time,” according to Politico.
Since 2008, Thales has sold 200 GM radars to 32 countries worldwide, solidifying its position as Europe’s radar leader and the third-largest in the world behind Lockheed Martin and Raytheon of the United States, as stated by Politico. In 2023 alone, the company sold 40 radars, highlighting the increasing demand for advanced air surveillance systems.
Morocco is among the countries that have invested in Thales’ cutting-edge radar technology. They join other nations such as Indonesia, which purchased 13 GM 400 Alphas last year, and European countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, and Estonia, according to Politico. The acquisition of these radars is part of a broader trend of countries looking to upgrade their military capabilities and ensure the security of their airspace.
As the French government urges defense companies to produce more weapons faster and at a lower cost, Thales is working to streamline its production processes, as reported by Politico.
The Limours factory now has four test chambers for fine-tuning radar antennas, up from three, and has increased its testing zones for assembled radars from a dozen to 17.
However, the company faces challenges in expanding its workforce, as the factory’s location far from major cities can make it difficult to attract young talent, according to Politico. “What is a little less easy is to bring young talent to Limours,” Descourvieres noted, suggesting that recruitment would be easier if the factory were situated in a more desirable area of Paris.
Despite these hurdles, Thales remains committed to meeting the growing demand for its air surveillance radars, which are seen as a crucial component of modern military defense systems, as reported by Politico.
The recent Moroccan-French rapprochement, characterized by the positive signals sent by Paris to Rabat to overcome the period of diplomatic coolness that bilateral relations between the two countries have experienced in recent years, may, according to observers, revive French arms sales to Morocco.
These sales had witnessed a significant decline following Rabat’s disregard for French weapons and its turn to other countries to acquire the arms it needs to face the various security threats in the region.
Read also: Morocco Becomes First Drone Manufacturer in North Africa and Middle East
