Revolutionizing Naval Navigation: Thales and CS GROUP Join Forces for a Resilient, Cybersecure Solution Inspired by Aviation

Thales and CS GROUP have merged their complementary proficiencies to deliver a high-performance, resilient, and cyber-secure navigation system. This innovative system features Thales’s TopAxyz inertial navigation unit, which has exhibited exceptional performance under the demanding conditions of civil aviation, amassing over 20 million hours of operational use. The naval variant of this unit was installed on a Navy vessel by CS GROUP in under a day and has already showcased its operational significance for maritime navigation.

• Thales, boasting over 40 years of expertise in the design and production of inertial navigation systems, partners with CS GROUP, a leader in smart cyber-secured mission-critical systems, to provide a comprehensive navigation solution for Navy surface vessels.
• At the core of this system is the Thales TopAxyz inertial navigation unit, seamlessly integrated with CS GROUP’s real-time computing system, showcasing a groundbreaking methodology in maritime navigation that fuses superior performance and resilience against electronic warfare threats.
• The newly designed compact, high-performance maritime inertial navigation system has already validated its efficacy in a real-world operational environment during its maiden sea trial on a military ship.

Thales and CS GROUP have combined their complementary expertise to offer a high-performance, resilient, and cyber-secure navigation mechanism. The architecture incorporates Thales’s TopAxyz inertial navigation unit, which has demonstrated remarkable performance under the demanding circumstances of civil aviation, accumulating over 20 million operational hours. The maritime adaptation of the unit was incorporated onto a Navy vessel by CS GROUP in less than a day’s time, proving its operational merit for maritime navigation.

In the dynamic naval landscape of today, crews face significant challenges from cyber threats, electronic warfare maneuvers, and the heightened risks of jamming and spoofing associated with GPS-based radionavigation. Reliable navigation information, instant data dissemination, and robustness against external assaults are essential for every mission undertaken by a naval vessel nowadays.

For over 20 years, Thales and CS GROUP have collaborated to tackle these challenges. Utilizing their combined know-how in essential navigation technologies, both companies are now offering an advanced approach to maritime navigation anchored in trustworthy and dependable navigation data.

The TopAxyz inertial unit leverages precise and trustworthy navigation intelligence that remains unaffected by sea conditions and vessel positioning, complemented by capabilities that detect spoofing attempts on GPS signals. The navigation data produced by TopAxyz is shared in real-time through the NDDS (Navigation Data Distribution System) crafted by CS GROUP’s onboard computing unit, utilizing state-of-the-art advancements in cybersecurity to ensure optimal resilience against attacks. Its architecture provides three primary benefits: enhanced navigation safety, reduced costs and integration complexities, along with user-friendliness and straightforward maintenance of the system.

The compact, high-performance maritime inertial navigation system has proven its effectiveness in an operational scenario during its initial sea trial on a military vessel. The system requires no calibration throughout its service life, thereby minimizing the overall cost of ownership.

The solution ensures high-precision pointing, gyrocompass, position, and navigation capabilities across all naval platforms, spanning from surface combatants and submarines to autonomous vehicles.
By merging their cutting-edge technologies, Thales and CS GROUP are poised to harness their unique capabilities at their respective production and integration facilities located in Châtellerault and Aix-en-Provence, France.

“After showcasing their value on aircraft, space launchers, and French Army land vehicles, Thales inertial navigation systems are now adapted for naval platforms,” stated Tristan Grivel, Vice President of Business Development and Sales for Thales’s flight avionics division. “The collaboration between Thales and CS Group has resulted in a navigation system that guarantees the highest levels of trust, performance, and security to ensure successful naval operations.”

“CS Group specializes in designing and integrating secure navigation systems, having supplied real-time navigation computers, military-grade GPS receivers, and other solutions to the French Navy and Naval Group for numerous years. Our partnership with Thales enables us to present an innovative, robust, and resilient maritime inertial navigation system for surface vessels,” remarked Gilles Rigal, Director of CS GROUP’s naval systems division.