Thales in Gorgonzola secures a NATO contract for Spain
Mobile air navigation system for the Iberian Air Force. Double-digit surge in production at the Lombardy site
This is the first order of its kind from NATO, and could be the first of many. The Thales site in Gorgonzola – the French group’s centre of expertise for avionics systems – has secured a contract to develop a mobile tactical communications system, a high-tech order worth several million euros for the Spanish Ministry of Defence.
“This is an extremely important contract for us,” explains Donato Amoroso, CEO of Thales Italia, “because it marks the culmination of a process that began in 2022. At that time, our group – having two sites at its disposal in Germany and Italia – chose the latter, Gorgonzola, to establish a distinctive production capacity in these fields.”
The NATO contract, which will be carried out over the course of a year, involves the supply of a Deployable Tactical Air Navigation (D-TACAN) system to the Spanish Air Force; the contract includes a package of logistical support, spare parts, training and maintenance services.
This system, which is crucial for providing pilots with real-time distance and position data, enabling safe navigation, approach and landing operations from both permanent airports and temporary bases, offers an autonomous and rapidly deployable navigation capability, designed to support military operations across a range of scenarios.
“Negotiations for similar products,” adds Amoroso, “are underway with other potential customers, both within NATO and beyond. At the moment, at Gorgonzola, we are making good use of our production capacity; we even operate two shifts when necessary, with demand on the rise – it has grown by 15–20 per cent annually over the last two years – and we are confident it will continue to grow. We bear in mind that when NATO expresses a preference for a particular technology, as is the case now, it is ‘endorsed’ globally.”
