Last July, Thales’ miniature and lightweight IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) interrogator, TSA1412, received the AIMS* certification from the United States Department of Defense (DoD).
IFF equipment provides the ability to distinguish between allied forces and potential threats, helping avoid ‘friendly fire’ and enabling quicker decision making.
The AIMS certification is key to use IFF Mode 5, the latest US/NATO standard. This certification is the result of a series of tests carried out on the IFF equipment by US Armed Forces service personnel at Thales’s facilities in France. A certain portion of those tests are NATO Secret classified and approved by an intergovernmental agreement between France and the USA.
The certification concerns the US version of Thales TSA1412 IFF with US cryptographic computer KIV 77, that has already been delivered to the US Army and could impact on over 1000 units.
In 2016, Thales was awarded contracts by Japan to deliver more over 100 IFF interrogators with Mode 5 and its accessories to all man-portable air-defense systems platforms (MANPADS). The Japanese version is currently under US DoD-AIMS certification process.
This new AIMS certification is to be added to the list of Thales IFF AIMS certified equipment such as long range interrogator TSA3522.