France orders IFF systems

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ELANCOURT, France, July 10 (UPI) -- Advanced identification systems to help avoid friendly fire incidents are being provided to the French military by Cassidian.

The contract announced – its value was not disclosed – is for 150 of the company's Monopulse Secondary Radar 1000 I interrogators used for short-range IFF.

The MSR 1000 I units will be installed on army MISTRAL missile launchers and MARTHA air defense command-and-control stations. They will also be outfitted on air force armored launch vehicles for CROTALE NG missiles.

According to Cassidian, the order is part of a French initiative to develop equipment that complies with a new NATO interoperability standard.

"This contract is of strategic importance for the future," said Bruno Rambaud, head of Cassidian SAS in France. "It makes Cassidian the European reference for short-range and very short-range IFF NG (next generation) interrogators and it is a springboard to other markets as the NATO allies will all eventually migrate to the new IFF standards."

The MSR 1000 I identifies aircraft by using sophisticated encryption techniques, mitigating enemy attempts to produce false signals.