Thales unveils Trac Sigma radar for safer skies

Enhances airspace safety with advanced detection technology

French defence electronics manufacturer Thales has launched Trac Sigma, an advanced radar enhancing air traffic safety by enabling precise detection and 3 nautical miles separation, improving coordination between military and civil operations in increasingly congested airspace.

Thales, a global leader in air traffic control technology, has announced the launch of its latest innovation, the Trac Sigma Primary Surveillance Radar.

In a press statement, Thales says that this state-of-the-art system is designed to address the mounting challenges of increasingly congested airspace, ensuring faster and more effective coordination between military and civil aviation authorities.

The statement adds that as global air traffic continues to surge, maintaining safe distances between aircraft-especially as military planes operate at both lower and higher altitudes, has become more critical than ever.

The statement adds that in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommendations, air traffic controllers are moving towards reducing the minimum horizontal separation between aircraft to just three nautical miles across all phases of flight, not only during final approach.

According to the statement, the Trac Sigma radar leverages cutting-edge digital technologies to deliver exceptional detection capabilities over an extended range of up to 300 km. Unique in its class, it can discriminate small targets with remarkable accuracy at long distances, supporting the separation standard of 3 nautical miles throughout the entire monitored airspace.

The statement says that inheriting advanced 3D detection and robust anti-jamming features from Thales’s proven Trac radar family, Trac Sigma offers high availability through full redundancy and hot-swappable components. Its dual-use design streamlines infrastructure and resource requirements, reducing lifecycle costs for operators.

“With over 50 years of experience in this field, Thales is continuously investing to lead the latest innovations in the Air Traffic Control radar market, helping ensure safer skies. Trac Sigma offers a single sensor for simultaneous approach and long-range surveillance supporting all air traffic control missions, and enables ATCOs to meet the challenges related to optimizing an increasingly congested airspace,” says Eric Huber, Vice President Surface Radars, Thales.