Thales is the world’s 17th largest arms companies and the fourth largest company in Europe. Headquartered in France, Thales specialises in aerospace, defence, security, and digital technologies to military and civilian clients. It also provides biometric, data, and identity security solutions. The company reported global sales of €20.6 billion in 2024, of which 53% was in its Defence segment, 27% in its Aerospace segment and 20% billion in its Cyber and Digital segment. Its principal markets are Europe (61% of sales), North America (14%), with Asia, the Middle East and Australia accounting for a further combined 20%.
Thales is 26.6% owned by the French state, and 26.6% owned by French military aviation company, Dassault Aviation. The remaining shares are primarily held by institutional and private shareholders. Thales has over 83,000 employees in 68 countries. It has operations in 12 sites in France. Outside of France, it has sites in the UK at Crawley, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Italy, India, and Mexico.
Thales has four segments: Defence and Security, Digital Identity and Security, Aerospace, and Cyber Solutions. Thales has over 7,000 employees in the UK, where its military production includes sonar, radar, unmanned systems, including the UK Watchkeeper drone, produced through a joint venture with Israeli arms company Elbit Systems, electronic warfare, avionics, training & simulation, communications, and advanced weapons, including the STARStreak missile system.
Aerospace
Thales makes the SPECTRA (Self-Protection Equipment to Counter Threats for Rafale Aircraft) system for the Rafale fighter jets manufactured by Dassault Aviation. Rafales are widely used in national air forces . SPECTRA provides identification, location, jamming and decoying against a wide range of threats.
Thales produces a range of drones, notably the Watchkeeper drone via its subsidiary UTacS, jointly owned by Israeli defence giant, Elbit Systems. used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) operations. First operational in 2014 in Afghanistan, Watchkeeper drones are made in the UK. The UK Ministry of Defence announced that it would retire its Watchkeeper fleet in early 2025.
Land vehicles
Thales produces a range of armoured vehicle. These include the Bushmaster, produced in Australia. Bushmaster vehicles have been sold to Australia, Indonesia (for the Indonesian Special Forces), Jamaica, Japan and the Netherlands. They have been deployed operationally in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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Missiles
Thales produces a range of missiles, notably through Thales Air Defence Limited (TADL), its Belfast-based subsidiary. Among its notable products are Starstreak, a short-range surface-to-air missile. The UK first used Starstreaks in 2003 in Iraq. India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have all purchased or otherwise obtained Starstreak missiles.
Border control
Thales has been particularly involved in Europe-wide efforts to patrol and surveil migration routes in the Mediterranean.
Thales provides integrated border management systems deployed, for example, at airports and border crossings in Lebanon. With its acquisition of biometrics company Gemalto in 2019, these systems include biometric analysis. According to research by the Transnational Institute, Thales technologies have been deployed in Dutch and Portuguese ships deployed by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) operations. The company has supplied maritime surveillance systems, drones and infrastructure to the Eurosur border surveillance, and was involved in its early conceptualisation in 2006 with partner companies Airbus and Finmeccanica (now Leonardo).
Thales Watchkeeper drones are used to patrol the UK southern border, according to the Ministry of Defence. With Leonardo, Thales owns Telespazio which in 2024 was set to benefit from a contract with the UK Home Office to provide satellites to monitor Channel crossings. In 2015, Thales Nederland sold radar and C3-systems to Egypt to be used to curb migration from Egypt for Europe.
It is a key supplier of helicopters used in patrolling maritime and some land borders, including in maritime Operations Sophia, Poseidon and Triton – three European naval collaborations inaugurated in 2015 to stem the arrivals of migrants by small boats into Europe, according to research published by the Transnational Institute (TNI). The TNI also reports Airbus and/or its subsidiaries have participated in at least 13 EU-funded border security research projects including OCEAN2020, PERSEUS and LOBOS.
Controversies
Corruption allegations
Thales is alleged to have been involved in bribery related to a 1997 fighter aircraft contract with the South African government, wherein Thales was accused of having made yearly payments to protect the company from investigations into corrupt practices. Jacob Zuma, at the time a government minister in KwaZulu-Natal, is alleged to have partaken in these corrupt dealings related to the procurement. Thales has been subject to similar corruption investigations related to its business supplying submarines to Brazil and frigates to Taiwan.
Sanctions-busting
An 2024 investigation by InformNapalm revealed a scheme permitting the Russian government to continue servicing its SU30SU-30SM fighter jets using equipment from Thales and another French company, Safran, despite international sanctions, via the Kazakh company ARC Group. Thales did not respond to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre’s request for comment.
Indonesia and west Papua
Thales has provided munitions to the Indonesian military which have been used against civilians in the restive west Papua region, according to on the ground observers reporting in 2021.
