Thales
Thales is a French aerospace, defence and cybersecurity group headquartered in the La Défense business district of Paris, tracing its lineage to the electronics firm Thomson-CSF and rebranded as Thales Group in December 2000. Its businesses span avionics, radar and surveillance systems, military communications, combat vehicles and weapon systems.
History and products
Thales's radar and surveillance lines include the Ground Master family of AESA ground-based radars, the Search Master and Ocean Master airborne surveillance radars, and the Sea Fire naval radar; its weapons business includes the Starstreak and Lightweight Multi-role Missile air-defence missiles and the Crotale system. In the drone field, Thales's UK arm partnered with Elbit Systems in the joint venture UAV Tactical Systems (U-TacS) to build the Watchkeeper UAS for the British Army; Thales divested its 49% stake in that joint venture to Elbit Systems in January 2026. Thales also acquired the UK radar specialist Aveillant in 2017, whose holographic radar is marketed for detecting small drones.
Products on this site
The Watchkeeper is the tactical ISTAR UAS Thales built for the British Army with Elbit Systems, based on the Hermes 450 airframe.
Aircraft by Thales
Thales lists 4 drones and UAVs. Maximum take-off weight ranges from 450 kg (Watchkeeper (WK450)) to 1900 kg (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV)). The longest endurance is 16 hours (Watchkeeper (WK450)). The longest range is 7500 km (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV)).
| Aircraft listed | 4 |
|---|---|
| Heaviest (MTOW) | Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) · 1900 kg |
| Longest endurance | Watchkeeper (WK450) · 16 h |
| Longest range | Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) · 7500 km |
| Fastest | Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) · 27720 km/h |
| Highest ceiling | WATCHKEEPER · 4900 m |
| With verified specs | 3 of 4 |
