Safran at CNE 2026: EO/IR systems and counter UAS

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Saffron Electronics and Defense has a major presence at Combine Naval event this year. The Defense Electronics Company is showcasing a comprehensive range of electrooptic systems for submarine and surface vessels applications. Let's find out more with Keith Moyer, chief executive officer at Safon Electronics and Defense UK.

[00:00:34]Keith, good morning. Thank you for hosting us on your booth.

[00:00:37]>> Savia, very warm welcome. It's great to have you here at Saffron.

[00:00:41]>> So, uh to start with, we are standing next to this nice display of your electronic mass solutions for submarines. uh that is because uh the first topic I wanted to discuss with you is a very important uh contract uh recently awarded to Saffron Electronics and defense in Canada. Can you please tell us more?

[00:00:59]>> Yeah, sure. You know, we've just had some great news working with our Canadian partners in terms of being awarded down selected for the Victoria class upgrade. Um so we'll be looking to put our technology into there to upgrade those very significant you know boats for the Canadian armed forces. Um we're particularly delighted because Canada is one of our strategic partners. You know, we have a great presence there. We work very closely with the Canadian Armed Forces and it's delightful for them to recognize Saffron and place their trust in us to be able to uh to complete this, you know, really really important project. So, we're working hard. Um the the interaction is very close and very regular. You know, we're moving that forward now. Uh and we're hopeful for contract exchange by the end of the year. Um but like I say really we're delighted because the Canadians for us are a very very strategic and important partner >> and Keith this is regarding both the search mast and the attack mast.

[00:01:51]>> So search mast and attack mouse yeah it's bringing it's bringing the current capability up to the very latest technology. So you know we we continue to invest a significant amount of time and effort and money in making sure that our masts are at the leading edge of capability because they are crucial to any submarine and its operations and its safety.

[00:02:13]Keith, you're also showcasing at CN 2026 uh pretty comprehensive range of uh EOI systems. So here we are. Um you know, we've got a a full range of our maritime portfolio here in terms of optronic sensors and detectors. And I think one thing that the the show has highlighted is is how much the complex maritime battle space and the challenges there demand that long range identification capability. So Saffron as as you know have got a a complete range and we start off here with our vampire uh vampir IST so infrared search and track capability.

[00:02:50]It's an exceptional sensor which rotates once per second and gives a 360° scan at long range for very small high-speed targets. So in today's maritime environment, not only is it drones that are the challenge, we see those on the TV every day and we've learned now that they are going to be, you know, a big part of a future maritime conflict, but it's things like the development of high-speed hypersonic maritime cruise missiles where radar, traditional radar detection just can't give you that advanced warning time now because of the interbeat time and the speed of the target. So we are now finding that the best form of detection and the greatest amount of warning time that a maritime platform can have will be likes of using a vampereia and and that IRST detection.

[00:03:38]So so we use this to do our initial track identification. So it finds the tracks in a 360° perimeter. Um but of course that's just one element of a whole counter system. Being able to identify the target is one part. Then we have to move on to classify the target to find out what it is because again in a complex you know battle space there are going to be friendly assets and hostile assets. Uh and the maritime commander needs to know which he can engage and which he must protect. So so this tells him that there is something there and there is more work to be done in terms of then classifying it. And of course that's where we move on to the next element which is our Pacio XLR. uh an incredibly capable long range identification and classification site.

[00:04:27]Um this is truly remarkable in terms of the ranges that we find against the likes of missiles, drones, uh helicopters and jets. Uh and there was one example which I was showing at the show in uh in a speech yesterday where we have got very clear identification of hostile fixedwing assets at 50 km. Now, as an ex-maritime commander myself, I just find that, you know, ability hugely impressive. And it gives you that time to be able to decide about what actions you need to take, what counters you need to deploy, do you need to maneuver the group or maneuver the force away from that threat. So, this long range identification and classification capability is invaluable. and working together in a capability we call omnisite uh as a sort of a partnership of initial identify then classify and track um you are working at long range and range which with those high-speed targets gives you that that invaluable time >> and another key benefit of course is that omniside is fully passive you don't emit anything >> so it's it's fully passive it can't be spoofed you know it's not reliant on GNSS which we know will be denied or challenged on day one So it is it is all under the control of the host platform and the other thing is the sites talk to each other you know they exchange information so it's just not contained in the console there is an automatic data exchange between the sites so IRST vampir will say I have seen something pass it on to the passio which then is cued to identify it and then you know the next part of the system from that is to be able to continue track and cue the engagements so that we can actually deny the threat because it's one thing to be able to identify something, but eventually you're going to have to take some action against it. Uh, and that's where the likes of the VG4 um comes in.

[00:06:20]So again, the sites talk to one another.

[00:06:22]It's queued to the target and then using this, we can put weapon systems on the end of this through ballistic computers and command management systems uh to basically bring the weapons to bear whether they're passive or active. you know, we can use we can use APKWS, we can use energy weapons, all those range of active measures, but also a full array of passive decoys which will enable us to uh to counter the threat.

[00:06:48]The the final part really of our system of systems approach towards counter UAS is our spy skyjacker uh counter UAS capability. Pretty unique uh in the industry. uh it's operationally deployed being very effective and the fact that it doesn't rely just on a jamming signal which is fairly traditional in counter UAS. Uh we've actually developed a a very very clever technology to allow us to spoof the handshake between the drone and the satellite. So the the the real advantage of that is um from our perspective or from the maritime commander's perspective, he doesn't care and he's not worried whether it's one drone or 100 drones because it's equally effective against that. So we have that skyjacker and you can imagine the the systems approach that brings all of that capability together. So from long range detection, long range identification, you know, then into track and engage and the spoofing capability, you've built up a layered defense that will give you the ability to counter even the most, you know, hostile of drones.