Euronaval 2018: Review and highlights

Saab displayed its SLWT Lightweight Torpedo at Euronaval 2018

The Euronaval exhibition closed after a successful edition which ran from 23-26 October confirming its status as the world's leading event in the naval industry sector. This 50th anniversary edition was punctuated by numerous political visits, including the President of the Republic and by the presence of more than 140 official delegations. With news announcements every day, Euronaval “is a driving force behind the preparation of the future, notably with its SEAnnovation space dedicated to start-ups and its Trade Vessel”. 

For the first time since its creation in 1968, the Euronaval exhibition had the honour of receiving the visit of the President of the French Republic, for its opening day. The President of the Republic, accompanied by Florence Parly Minister of the Armed Forces, and Mrs. Geneviève Darieussecq, Secretary of State spent four hours at the exhibition. He met industry leaders, the actors of the defence and the State industry at sea, SMEs and start-ups. The same morning, Mrs. Parly inaugurated the exhibition with an extremely positive speech for the naval industry, announcing the launch of the studies for the future aircraft carrier. Minister of Education and Youth Jean-Michel Blanquer, inaugurated the Trade Vessel for the French industry in the presence of Hervé Guillou, President of the GICAN and CEO of Naval Group, Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, President of MEDEF and Philippe Darmayan, President of UIMM. The exhibition also welcomed Mr. Jean-Jacques Bridey, Chairman of the Defence Committee at the National Assembly and Christian Cambon, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces in the Senate, as well as several delegations of deputies and senators including Jean-Marie Bockel.

The exhibition welcomed 142 official delegations including 101 foreign delegations representing 72 countries from 5 continents. “The delegations benefitted from tailor-made tour programmes, allowing them to discover the naval materials of the future that could equip their countries’ Navies: stated GICAN officials. It is also worth mentioning the presence of 60 representatives from overseas organisations.

Some of the events that made headlines included an international conference in Paris, the day preceding the exhibition, with an audience of 600 people; the announcement by the Minister of the Armed Forces of the launch of studies for renewing the French aircraft carrier; an announcement of the creation of a joint venture between Naval Group and Fincantieri; confirmation of the FLOTLOG programme for the future logistics ships of the French Navy, with the signature of the Franco-Italian bilateral agreement; reinforcement of Franco-Australian partnerships, in continuity of the submarine contract signed two years ago and finally a celebration of the 170th anniversary of the Lacroix group, crowned by the sale of the 10,000th Seaclad decoy system.

Thanks to its growth and sound economic health, the French naval industry is recruiting, but is still having difficulties attracting young people. To respond to this considerable need for young talent, the GICAN, with the help of the Naval Industries Campus (CINAV), has designed and developed the Trade Vessel. An innovative scheme inaugurated by the Minister of Education and Youth, to present jobs with recruitment difficulties and those representing the future of the naval industry, to more than 300 students invited to the exhibition. The SEAnnovation space hosted 34 French and foreign start-up businesses, representing the diversity of the sector. For the start-ups present, this was a unique opportunity to make themselves known to contractors of the shipbuilding industry all over the world. 

Dassault unveils model of the New Generation Fighter

Dassault used this year’s Euronaval 2018 exhibition to display a model of the New Generation Fighter (NGF) that will eventually replace the current generation of Dassault’s Rafales and Germany’s Eurofighter Typhoons aircraft by around 2035-2040. The Dassault ‘s next-generation aircraft has no tail fin and a swept W-shaped wing design and incorporates advanced stealth technologies and integration with information systems. The new aircraft will have tricycle-type landing gear for runway take-off and landing. The air vehicle is expected will be adapt to contemporary air threats and exploiting the potential of artificial intelligence.

It is likely that the new fighter jet project is developing as part of Europe’s Future Air Combat System (FCAS) and will eventually replace the current generation of Eurofighter and Rafale fighter aircraft by around 2035-2040. According to a news release put out in April 2018, Germany and France have agreed on the central requirements for a new fighter jet to replace Eurofighter Typhoon and Rafale warplanes beginning in 2040.

Scale model of project 11356 frigate on the India pavilion stand at Euronaval 2018

MBDA’s Naval Version of the 5th generation MMP system

MBDA unveiled its new naval offering based on the 5th generation MMP ground combat missile at Euronaval. This decision follows the operational evaluation campaign carried out at the end of the summer by the French armed forces in Djibouti to confirm the reliability and operational performance of the MMP system in a hot environment, both from the ground and also from a rigid hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) moving at high speed. A total of nine MMP missiles were fired with all reaching their target. The success of this evaluation allows MBDA to extend the integration perspectives of the MMP system and to propose it on fast attack craft or semi-rigid boats for missions against hostile ships, coastal defenses or armored vehicles, especially in support of a landing of small units or Special Forces.

Thales optronics for Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier

The Charles de Gaulle has just been equipped with the latest high-tech systems as part of a halfway major refit conducted under the management support of both the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) and the Fleet Support and Service (SSF) currently being finalised. One such capability upgrade is Artemis, a passive infrared search and track (IRST) system that uses three fixed sensors integrated into the topside architecture to perform surface surveillance out to the horizon at all times of day and night. Developed by Thales, Artemis helps to guarantee the maximum level of situational awareness and protection needed to insure the survivability of the ship itself and other vessels in the area. Operating alone or in combination with other sensors, the system automatically detects tracks and classifies a broad array of airborne, maritime and land-based threats. The three fixed sensors provide 360° panoramic surveillance of the surface and the coast, with no blind spots, day and night. With advanced electronic image stabilisation and data refresh rates 10 times higher than a scanning IRST system, Artemis detects and classifies threats faster than earlier generations of sensors.

With BlueScan, Thales takes ASW to the next level 

Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions are crucial to the ability of naval forces to manage tactical situations of ever-increasing complexity and to make the right choices at decisive moments. The BlueScan integrated acoustics system from Thales gives naval forces a tactical advantage by adopting a collaborative approach to acoustic detection with multiple sensors operating in multistatic mode when needed. The solution leverages advances in real-time Big Data analytics and artificial intelligence to provide automatic fusion, technical analysis and classification of heterogeneous data from acoustic sensors deployed by surface ships, aircraft, unmanned systems and sonobuoys. The sonars in service today deliver increasingly high performance and relay acoustic data in such huge quantities that it is becoming more and more difficult to process by humans. The BlueScan system will provide sonar operators with an accurate picture of the acoustic situation and transmit only high-value data. With its open, scalable architecture, BlueScan is designed to adapt to evolving operational requirements while keeping through-life support costs under control and accommodating incremental capability enhancements to meet the priority objectives of naval forces.

Naval Group presents its innovations at Euronaval 2018

Naval Group showcased high technology naval solutions to address emerging threats. “As the leading service and system provider, Naval Group is uniquely positioned on the naval defence market allowing its clients to obtain an unequalled level of overall fleet performance during the whole ship’s lifecycle”, said the company. 

The latest naval defence solutions offered to the navies on display were:  

Digital combat bridge: Naval Group is innovating in the field of Asymmetric Threat Control (LCMA) with a value offer on strengthening tactical situation control under all weather conditions and over 360° vision. The demonstrator on the stand offered a clear, intuitive and ergonomic representation of the situation at sea as well as tools for taking simple and quick actions in the face of threats. 

SMX 31 submarine concept ship: Naval Group presented a disruptive submarine to serve a new vision of combat. It has new sensors, a new coating and allows for the use of drones. The Electric can help navies gather and share valuable intelligence without ever being detected thanks to the powerful acoustic, optronic and electromagnetic sensors. 

Surface ship design lab: An interactive application proposing different scenarios combining capacity and technological options through a dozen predefined sketches allowing navies to conceive a ship responding to their specific needs. 

The Barracuda submarine: Naval Group has designed and is building the Barracuda, the latest generation of strategic submarine, developed for the French Navy dedicated to specifically respond to evolving threats. In 2016, Australia within the Sea Future Programme, has chosen Naval Group for a cooperation agreement for the building of twelve submarines, from the Barracuda family design. 

 The Scorpene submarine: This submarine is capable of carrying out all types of missions, such as surface vessel warfare, anti-submarine warfare, long-range strikes, special operations or intelligence gathering. It is extremely stealthy and fast, and is equipped by weapon launching tubes, and various weapons (torpedoes, missiles, mines). 

 F21 Heavy Weight Torpedo: The French Navy’s heavy weight torpedo offers advanced self-guided mode, shallow and confined water capabilities. The aluminium silver oxide technology which allows the torpedo to enjoy higher range and maximum available speed, making it a much more lethal weapon than other available torpedoes.  

 Belharra: Belharra is the new combat ship for naval supremacy and crisis management designed for navies looking for a compact frigate able to perform a large range of missions stand-alone or within a task force either for high sea duration missions as for shallow water operation in congested and contested operational environment. As the first digital frigate, Belharra features high level capabilities in anti-air, anti-surface, anti-submarine and asymmetric warfare domains, taking into account French Navy operational legacy acquired in wartime situation.  

Elettronica at Euronaval 2018

Elettronica Group, with its three industrial assets - Elettronica SpA (Electronic Warfare), Elettronica GMBH (Homeland Security & EW), CY4GATE (Cyberwarfare) - as a European leader in Defence and Security, showcased its latest naval technical solutions. Elettronica’s systems are in service in more than 30 countries and deployed with their Armed Forces and Security Agencies, performing a variety of key operational missions, from strategic surveillance to self-protection, sigint, electronic attack and operational support for naval, airborne and ground applications.  Elettronica Group boasts a long-standing tradition in the naval sector and a strong record of successful domestic and international collaborations on all the key modern military platforms, such as the Italian PPA, the Italian and French Horizon and FREMM ship class, the NFH-90 helicopter and a wide range of projects in the Gulf, Middle East and Asia. The distinctive features of its products are high sensitivity, high accuracy, a fully automatic surveillance function, and data processing for intelligence analysis (ELINT function). The performance of Elettronica’s last generation products have been further improved, increasing sensitivity and accuracy.

In a complex maritime background, the proliferation of commercial traffic at sea dramatically increases the congestion of the electromagnetic environment with unwanted signals. The intrinsically asymmetric conditions of operations are now making protection against EO/IR guided threats an increasingly important requirement for active countermeasures in this field. Currently, the concept of operations and user requirements for surface ships are changing, due to the increasing requirement for using these platforms in peace keeping operations, military operations other than war, border surveillance against illegal traffic, and support for operations in Exclusive Economic Zones. In a scenario where ambiguity, uncertainty and complexity are the new variable characterising military operations, the deployment of EW assets is changing accordingly: Electronic Warfare is more important than ever.

At Euronaval, the spotlight was on the next- generation, fully European self-protection Infra-Red solution DIRCM (Direct InfraRed Countermeasure) for naval applications. This capability has been successfully tested in many scenarios and makes full use of Elettronica’s experience matured over many NATO international contexts. The immediate benefit derives from the exploitation of the aforementioned capability to address MANPADS threats, including third generation threats, also used for piracy against surface vessels in an unconventional manner. In addition, the DIRCM system, combined with the use of flares according to a sequence of jamming techniques performed by the EW Manager, represents a really effective way to counter IR missiles (fourth generation). 

Safran launches a new family of naval INS

Safran Electronics & Defense introduced a complete range of inertial navigation systems for both surface vessels and submarines, designed to meet the expectations of today’s navies. Thanks to the HRG Crystal hemispherical resonator gyro, patented by Safran, and complete support packages with minimum guaranteed down times and extended warranties, this new range offers a major step forward in terms of operational effectiveness, product integration and cost of ownership. It also covers the full spectrum of naval requirements in terms of navigation precision, based on a wide variety of models in the family. The new Argonyx product line is designed for all surface vessels, from patrol boats and corvettes to frigates and aircraft carriers, while the Black-Onyx and Black-Onyx Dual-Core product lines cover all submarines, conventional and nuclear-powered, as well as air-independent propulsion (AIP) models. 

These new navigation units are light, reliable and robust to meet the most demanding requirements for navigation and weapon system stabilisation. They deliver all data needed for navigation: heading, roll and pitch, angular velocities, position and heave, vertical/horizontal speed and acceleration. They also offer high performance in environments without access to signals from global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), allowing submarines to run without surfacing for unprecedented periods. Compatible with Sigma 40 interfaces, they are fully interchangeable, which means they can be selected for modernisation programmes.