French firms that have developed innovative defense-related technologies
are seeking customers in the United States. Many came to the France-U.S.
Defense Industry Business Forum in Baltimore, last December, looking
for potential partners.
“The presence here of many French chief executive officers
exhibits the fact that there are many French companies dedicated
to developing a relationship with American customers in defense,”
said Philippe Camus, president of the French defense industries
association, the Groupement des Industries Francaises Aeronautics
et Spatiales (GIFAS). Camus is also co-CEO of the European Aeronautics
Defense and Space Company.
“French companies feel they have product competencies that
the U.S. can benefit from,” he said.
Bernard Alhadef, president of French Sofresud Defense Systems,
a 20-employee company, said that his flagship product, a close-range
target designator, known as a “quick-pointing device,”
is a product that would be suitable for the U.S. market. The device
is a hand-held unit that can provide the coordinates of incoming
threats such as a missile, boat or airplane, in a fraction of a
second. The coordinates could then be automatically transmitted
to a shooter, so the threat can be destroyed. Sofresud holds an
international patent to the product. Though Alhadef said that he
would like to sell the product to the Defense Department, he would
like to partner with a U.S. defense company to help distribute the
system.
“Creativity is prevalent in smaller companies, and partnering
could give the benefit of the innovation and creativity while also
providing a viable commercial benefit to the U.S. company,”
Camus said.
Another French company has created an underwater global positioning
system (GPS) device. Hubert Thomas, president of A.C.S.A., said
that current global positioning systems are completely useless underwater,
because traditional GPS devices cannot be tracked through water.
Thomas created a “GIB tracking system” for Unmanned
Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), buoys, and divers, which can track mobile
devices through water, in real time. He holds an international patent
on the product and has already sold some units to the United States
and French navies. Thomas said he would like to team with U.S. businesses
for underwater robotics projects and to promote his underwater GPS
units.