Thales sponsors Seminar on Defence and RCAF Projects at the International Aerospace Week in Montreal
Siegfried Usal, VP Strategy Research & Technology for Thales Canada, spoke about the impact of Digitalization on Aerospace and Defence at the Seminar on Defence and RCAF Projects.
Digital Technology Leaps and Artificial Intelligence are transforming the Aerospace & Defense Industry. New open R&D and business models and value generation strategies, from Hardware to Software to Process, will largely impact all Aerospace and Defense Industries alongside Governments, Academia and SMEs acting in that space.
The quest for technology competitive superiority is not new to most of the Defense & Aerospace stakeholders. What has changed dramatically is that these key digital technologies now mainly come from the civil sector, such as Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning, Connected objects or augmented reality. This forces the Defense industry to draw from civil R&D, implementing new collaboration models to a level that has never been reached before.
As the Air transport Traffic will double globally by 2035 (even triple in the region of South Asia), while unmanned vehicles will be inserted into the Traffic Management network, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence will become essential to run sensor grids and supervision platforms in a secured and efficient way. The intelligence injected into the system to augment human performance will allow for more appropriate and safer decisions.
Over several decades Thales has partnered with governments and Academia to create different consortia and S&T and R&D clusters in various domains. This has led to the commercialization of pioneer technologies and solutions, such as the fully automated driverless urban rail system of 35 years ago back in Vancouver, that is today the world technology standard. Or, the first North American Business Jet equipped with digital flight controls made in Thales, the Gulfstream 650. This is 100% Canadian Technology that is exported worldwide.
About the event: The Government of Canada is in the process of launching several major procurement projects in the near future. Projects to replace CF-18s and purchase fixed-wing search and rescue platforms are progressing well. This is a unique opportunity for the Canadian defence industry, which may not be seen before another generation. These projects represent a considerable volume of contracts worth several billion dollars.
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Defence and Major Projects Seminar, held on April 3, 2017 provided an overview of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s major procurement projects over the next few years. The event included speeches from government officials, the Canadian Armed Forces and industry representatives.
