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Thales Innovation Enhances Collaborative Surveillance during Ramstein Flag 2025

Leeuwarden Air Base was hosting the international exercise Ramstein Flag 2025 from March 31 to April 11. This NATO exercise provides a platform for countries to train together in complex scenarios, ensuring effective collaboration during operations. NATO pilots will practice responding to an attack on a member state, known as an Article-5 scenario. Ramstein Flag highlights the importance of defending NATO territory collectively, on land, at sea, and in the air.

A crucial part of the exercise is the sharing and fusion of tactical information. Thales plays a fundamental role here with the newly developed PLDEF technology. PLDEF stands for Plot Level Data Exchange and Fusion. The  technology was born out of a French & Dutch collaboration, where Government, Knowledge institutes and Industry work together to develop this new capability.  PLDEF focuses on analyzing and combining data from various radar sources, quickly providing a more complete picture of the situation.

Thales’ innovative PLDEF technology offers substantial benefits, such as:

  • Improved Situational Awareness: By combining plot data from different radar sources, units obtain a more comprehensive and accurate view of the operational area. Radar jamming will have less effect as plot data from other radars can still be used.
  • Faster Response Capability: Optimized data exchange allows combat units to respond faster to threats and changing conditions. Geographic positions of tracks are more accurate as multiple radars jointly create one track.
  • Enhanced Tactical Decision-Making: With fewer false tracks and more precise presented tracks, decision-making is greatly improved.

© Royal Netherlands Airforce

During Ramstein Flag 2025, Thales integrates valuable plot data from several deployed Thales radar systems, including:

  • SMART-L MM/F air surveillance radar in Wier (Air Force): This radar offers extensive air surveillance capabilities and long-range detection.
  • GM200 MM/C radar in Den Helder (Army): This mobile radar supports tactical air and missile defense tasks.
  • Radars on the Dutch frigate HNLMS Tromp (Navy): These radars, including SMART-L MM/N, aid in sea surveillance and defense.

PLDEF enables the military to combine and analyze diverse radar data, significantly improving Multi Domain cooperation among various military units. The integrated approach of PLDEF enhances situational awareness and decision-making during operational missions, greatly advancing tactical effectiveness and (flight) safety. Beyond this month's exercise, Thales also plays a leading role in international studies, such as the European Defence Fund (EDF) study. Here, Thales leads the technical coordination for Naval Collaborative Surveillance, focusing on building shared air and sea pictures during maritime operations. This underscores the company’s expertise and commitment to developing advanced collaboration technologies that strengthen NATO allies' defense capabilities.

Thales' participation in Ramstein Flag 2025 underscores the importance of innovation and industry collaboration within NATO. The specific expertise and technology of PLDEF are seen as a new game-changer for NATO's defense capabilities.

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