Thales Underwater Systems or TUS (formerly Thomson Sintra ASM, Thomson CSF DASM and then Thomson Marconi Sonar) is a subsidiary of the French defense electronics specialist Thales Group. It was founded in 2001 and belongs to its naval division. It specializes in the development and manufacturing of sonar systems for submarines, surface warships and aircraft, as well as communications masts and systems for submarines. Its headquarters are located in Sophia Antipolis, France.[1][2]
Thales Underwater Systems is made up of three branches: TUS SAS in France with sites in Brest and Aubagne; TUS Ltd. in the United Kingdom with sites in Cheadle Heath and Templecombe; and finally TUS Pty in Australia. It nonetheless operates as a single company.
The company generated €400 million in revenue in 2006 and employed around 2,100 people.
Background
In 1996, Thomson Marconi Sonar was formed by the merger of the sonar systems businesses of French defence electronics specialist Thomson-CSF and British company GEC-Marconi after the payment of a balance by the latter. It was 50.1% owned by Thomson-CSF and 49.9% by GEC-Marconi.[3] Denis Ranque was appointed CEO of the joint venture. The new company would head 3 operational entities:
With the merger of GEC's defence business Marconi Electronic Systems and British Aerospace in 1999, the resulting BAE Systems acquired Marconi's 49.9% share in TMS. BAE, through an options agreement, forced Thomson-CSF (now called Thales) to purchase its stake in 2001. The company therefore became entirely owned by Thales and was renamed Thales Underwater Systems.
TUS SAS (France)
Sophia Antipolis
Thales Underwater Systems is headquartered in Sophia Antipolis, southern France. It was also, alongside Brest, one of Thomson Sintra's main sites.[3] This continues to be the case with TUS SAS.
Brest
Brest has been a major center of Thales' naval activities as well as those of its predecessor entities since the 1960s. The site has not stopped evolving since 1963. Opened as part of the Breton electronics plan in order to develop a local industry centered around airborne systems and underwater combat systems to compensate for the difficulties encountered in agriculture, it had since then the mission of producing military electronic equipment, including the first radar exclusively dedicated to maritime patrol, which left the workshops in 1965.[4]
Today, Thales' site in Brest is essentially dedicated to research and development. With some 1,000 engineers out of the 1,600 employees as of 2013, the four main areas of activity are mine warfare, submarine warfare, electronic warfare
TUS Ltd. (United Kingdom)
TUS Ltd. has two main sites, Cheadle Heath near Stockport, Greater Manchester and Templecombe in Somerset. The company had a turnover of around £85 million with a total of 853 staff in 2006.
Cheadle Heath
The Cheadle Heath site was set up in 1977 as an overspill of the Ferranti Military Systems Division based at Wythenshawe. It comprised groups covering training simulators, communication systems and a small Underwater Systems Group which was engaged in the development of displays and computer interfaces for sonars equipment. The main parts of these sonars were developed by the Plessey Marine Research Unit at Templecombe, Somerset.
The sonar work at the Cheadle Heath site expanded into digital signal processing, algorithm development, display generation, simulation, LCD and TV displays, mass storage, computer interfaces and highways. Takeovers of other companies brought new expertise in sonar arrays. The Sonar Systems Group increased in size and successfully bid against Plessey for parts of sonar 2054. Other parts of the Ferranti empire started to crumble, aided by the merger with International Signal (James Guerin) in 1987 to form Ferranti International. Ferranti eventually went bankrupt (again) in 1993, however the small, idiosyncratic Sonar Systems Group had become a successful standalone business. A Joint Venture Company was formed between the Ferranti liquidators (49.9%) and Thomson-CSF (50.1%) to form Ferranti Thomson Sonar Systems. The Ferranti share was bought out by GEC-Marconi to become Thomson Marconi Sonar Systems.
TUS Pty (Australia)
Meadowbank
This was the main manufacturing facility until 1995 when it was transferred to Rydalmere. The Meadowbank facility has since closed and has been redeveloped into residential apartments.
Rydalmere
This is the headquarters of TUS in Australia.
Products
- Dipping sonar (such as that for the Merlin helicopter)
- Minehunting Sonars (such as Type 2093, Type 2193, TSM 2022 Mk3)
- Sonar Type 2016 (surface; originally Type 22 Frigates)
- Sonar Type 2020 (Trafalgar and Swiftsure class of Hunter/Killer Submarines)
- Mine and obstacle avoidance sonar for surface ships (TSM 5424 Petrel sonar)
- Sonars for conventional submarines (S Cube SSK)
- Surface ship towed array sonar (Sonar 2087, CAPTAS)
- Medium frequency ASW sonar (Spherion)
- Torpedo sonars
- Torpedo detection sonar (Sea Defender)
- Submarine sonar (Type 2076)
- Underwater communications sonars
- Sonobuoys/processors
- Swimmer detection sonar
- Synthetic aperture sonar (DUBM-44)
Sites
- Brest, France
- Sophia-Antipolis, France
- Templecombe, Somerset, UK
- Cheadle Heath, Greater Manchester, UK
- Meadowbank, New South Wales, Australia
- Rydalmere, New South Wales, Australia.
References
- Thales About. About Thales www.thalesgroup.com, retrieved 2026-02-21^
- Thales Underwater Systems. Thales Underwater Systems Naval Technology, retrieved 2026-02-21^
- Thomson-CSF et le britannique GEC-Marconi marient leurs sonars