The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) has awarded a contract to ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) for the delivery of its Ground Master 406 (GM 406) three-dimensional air defence radar to the French Air Force.

Under the terms of undisclosed contract, the company will supply and install a GM 406 radar at Nice Mont-Agel Air Force Base, to serve as the core of French airspace surveillance capability.

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RTS will also deliver on-site support, related civil engineering, through-life support and information system security for the radar over a three-year period.

ThalesRaytheonSystems, French Operations CEO Philippe Duhamel said: "With the Ground Master 406, France will benefit from superior detection performance at low and high altitudes, higher availability and simplified maintenance."

The radar is scheduled to be incorporated into the air defence network of the air operations command and control system (SCCOA), C3M system, Nato air command and control system (ACCS) and navy and army installations.

A GM 406-based radar station has already been purchased by the air force for installation at the Kourou Spaceport, located in French Guiana.

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Belonging to TRS family of fully digital 3D air defence radars, the GM 406 is designed to safeguard vital military assets and expeditionary forces through detection of a wide range of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), missiles, mortars and rockets from very low to high altitudes.

Introduced in 2008, the radar offers enhanced detection performance, high operational availability and mobility, simplified maintenance and increased track accuracy for weapon assignment.

The radar is also operational with many countries worldwide, including Canada, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Malaysia and Slovenia.

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