Navigation Aids

Air Traffic Control Operators (ATCO) are not the only ones necessitating awareness of an aircraft position in their airspace at all times. Aircraft themselves must also be able to rely on their onboard equipment to provide them with accurate positioning along their flight path. This is normally the key role of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), but these systems are highly vulnerable to spoofing and jamming.

To ensure that no false or absent coordinate risk compromising Air Traffic Management (ATM) within a given airspace, Thales offers a complete portfolio of Navigation Aids (NAVAIDS) to support its clients, civil and military, ensuring safe navigation.

Keep track your position

To know their position within the airspace along their flight route, aircraft pilots rely on GNSS. These systems connect the aircraft to satellites that in turn provide them with coordinates. Aircraft receive position, distance, heading, height, all information from the Navigation aids sensors on the ground and / or satellite. GNSS, however, as vulnerable to spoofing - wrong coordinates are purposefully transmitted to the aircraft - and jamming - the aircraft is unable to receive the signal. Without these coordinates or, worse, with the wrong coordinates, flight safety is compromised.

Navigation aids are developed as an essential support system to address this challenge. Aircraft flight plans are entered into the system, and a network of connected ground sensors along the path provides the aircraft with waypoints it must follow to stay safely en-route. During navigation, sensors installed on aircraft receive position, distance, heading, height, all information from the Navigation aids sensors on the ground. Information is relayed through Radio Frequencies (RF). With new technology aircrafts and systems, fly and land / take off even in completely overcast weather and difficult meteorological conditions are safe.

Stay safely connected during your navigation

Building on years of experience, successfully providing 10,000 systems in 170 countries, Thales offers a complete portfolio of high performance and reliable Navigation Aids products. With advanced, secure features designed to shape the future for civil and military aviation, our innovations are fitting all mandatory regulations, thus, meeting all customers’ requirements with a sustainable investments.

The portfolio includes Landing systems supporting the aircraft during the airport approach and landing phases of the flight.

• ILS - an Instrument Landing System for safe airport landing providing operationally safe, suitable, and effective precision guidance approach and landing. ILS can be proposed in fix and deployable applications for civil and military customers.

Thales’ portfolio includes also en-route and approach guidance systems for aircrafts and pilot. Our expertise in based on field proven equipment is reinforced with a 5th generation of DME / CVOR / DVOR / TACAN equipment: more digital, more efficient for a safer sky.

• DME Capabilities for en-route and approach guidance - Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) is used to provide En-route and approach guidance and tells a pilot how far his aircraft is from the ground station concerned. That means it's an important device! Thales delivers innovative DME solutions for the most challenging civil and military applications.
• CVOR 532 / DVOR 532 - New generation of ground-based radio navigation aids that enable an aircraft to determine its bearing relative to the location of the system supporting approach and en route guidance. The new generation benefit of a higher performance & reliability thanks to the modern design and the latest technologies integrated.
• Tactical naval, military, ground based navigation aids capabilities -  TACAN is a system used by military aircraft and provides bearing and range information for civil aviation (when used as DME). Thales benefits of a broad range of TACAN ground based Navigation Aids solutions available for Shipboard, Fixed Site, Mobile and Man-portable operations.
• Deployable Landing technologies of the future D-ILS D-ILS/DME D-ILS/TACAN

Safer, more reliable, more integrity, more efficient, more digital.