Thales wins £29m contract extension

Defence supplier, Thales, has announced it will continue to support the RAF’s Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition & Reconnaissance Mission Support System (ISTAR MSS). ISTAR MSS provides users with mission planning, information management and information exchange in support of military air operations. The contract extension with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is worth £29m over four years.  The win drew our attention as C4ISTAR programmes continue to be an area where both the defence contractors (such as Thales, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems) compete with the traditional SITS suppliers (the likes of Logica) – see ‘Can defence contractors challenge UK SITS suppliers?’ for previous analysis.