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Reverse IFF is the first air-ground combat identification system based on standard IFF
concept. Contracted by the French Procurement Agency (DGA), Thales has
successfully tested the solution during recent Allied operational exercise. The
solution has demonstrated its potential for significant decrease of fratricide risks of
allied equipped assets during close air support operations.

Based on the existing IFF waveform, the Thales Reverse IFF system uses existing
transponder onboard aircraft to interrogate ground forces. Ground Forces equipped
with Ground Combat ID equipment and shared Situational Awareness tools will be
able to respond with Blue Force positions to approaching Friendly Aircraft and thus
prevent fratricide.

The principle of the Reverse IFF solution is particularly innovative and cost-effective: before
providing Close Air Support (CAS), the aircraft uses its existing IFF transponder to emit
interrogations at 1090 MHz (instead on 1030 MHz in the basic standard) over the area of the
operation. Then, friendly ground assets, through a dedicated device, answer to the query at
1030 MHz (instead of 1090 MHz in the basic standard, hence the Reverse IFF concept).

The very innovative part of the solution is the surrogate reply capability: the system can use
tactical radio network or BTID network to locate every platform on the ground in the area and
to send the GNSS coordinate to the aircraft via the ground IFF system. As a result, the
aircraft crew then possesses a very precise view of blue forces even if there is only one
reverse IFF device in the zone.

A recent trial of the Reverse IFF solution has been demonstrated during the last Bold Quest
exercise conducted between Nellis AFB in Nevada and the National Training Center at Fort
Irwin in California, USA. Operational results were excellent between the Mirage 2000 and the
allied (French, Canadian, USA) equipped vehicles. It was assessed to lead to a real
improvement of efficiency of Close Air Support missions while strongly decreasing the risk of
fratricide damages.

"The Reverse IFF concept perfectly illustrates the Thales' ability to invent new solutions and
new concepts based on existing technology", said Merry Michaux, Vice-President Air & Naval
Communications, Navigation and Identification activities, Thales Land & Joint Systems
Division. "We think, at Thales, that one of our mission is really to provide our customers with
solutions that can help them to be more efficient while ensuring a better protection. The
Reverse IFF solution integrated with existing Ground Forces Combat Identification systems
and networks fully answers to that goal".

About Thales

Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, addressing defence,
aerospace and security markets worldwide. Thales's leading-edge technology is supported
by 22,000 R&D engineers who offer a capability unmatched in Europe to develop and deploy
field-proven mission-critical information systems. To this end, the group's civil and military
businesses develop in parallel and share a common base of technologies to serve a single
objective: the security of people, property and nations. The group builds its growth on its
unique multi-domestic strategy based on trusted partnerships with national customers and
market players, while leveraging its global expertise to support local technology and
industrial development. Thales employs 68,000 people in 50 countries with 2007 revenues of
€12.3 billion.