Thales Provides the Gecko Solution for Detecting and Identifying Drones in the Civil Airspace

London, United Kingdom, 2016/05/26 – The purpose of the project is to provide various deployable posts for the detection and identification of small-size drones – ThalesGroup.com. Euronext: HO

• The contract includes the Gecko solution, Squire radars and various thermal cameras destined for a South-East Asian country.
• Gecko is already in use in the Army’s protected vehicles or in the civil sphere for the surveillance of borders or drug trafficking.
• The Gecko solution is required to be in operation before the end of 2016

A local control post for each deployable post will be provided, as well as a centralised control post. The contract integrates the Gecko optronic solution, Squire radars and various thermal cameras. The client will use this solution, provided by Thales (thalesgroup.com), in public events to monitor different urban areas and, especially, to control the use of drones.

The Thales Gecko is developed in Spain and has dual application, both civil and military. It is based upon an optronic solution that employs Thales’s long-range infrared Suzie camera. It is a fully Spanish product development with dual application, both civil and military. The solution will have the flexibility to be deployed in different places over a period of several weeks and will tackle today’s challenge of detecting small-size drones in the civil airspace.

For Thales in Spain, undertaking this project is a veritable milestone, as this is the first time it has signed an export contract for the Gecko solution.

The military version of Gecko is already in use by the Army as a means for distance vision for RG-31 protected vehicles and for the clean-up of routes. In the civil sphere, Gecko is also being used in Spain as a surveillance solution for borders, drug trafficking, etc. The Gecko solution is planned to be in operation by the end of 2016.

“As a key actor in the UAV market, Thales is excited to embark on this project with the aim of tackling the complexity of detecting small-size drones and the challenges that we face due to the civil use of drones in airspaces worldwide”.
José Sarnito, Business Development Director for the Thales in Spain Aeronautics, Defence and Security Area