14 Apr 2025 – Thales has been selected by NATO to deliver phase 3 of the NCOP (NATO Common Operational Picture) programme called “NCOP-BMD”. NCOP will provide NATO commanders with a unified, real-time representation of theatres of operations and the threat landscape to improve situational awareness of joint forces operations.
Thales has partnered NATO on its tactical situational awareness programme since 2012, with the development of Increment-1 and Increment-2 of NCOP that equip around 30 NATO command centres.
The contract is an opportunity for Thales to continue to support NATO in its mission of coordination, planning and command tasks, by providing unprecedented ballistic missile defence (BMD) capabilities to help protect European member nations against the growing threat of ballistic missiles.
“Thales has built up a wealth of expertise in managing NATO interoperability issues since 2015, and this third contract will draw on that legacy. Thales will be providing new functionalities for ballistic missile defence in order to improve the situational awareness of NATO Commanders with BMD enhancement.”said Gérard Herby, Vice President, Protection Systems, Thales.
Joint operations today are conducted by land, air and naval units with many different types of command systems, which generate huge amounts of georeferenced operational information. The NCOP application captures, aggregates and correlates all this information to generate a single, comprehensive view of the theatre of operations, providing NATO commanders with a Common Operational Picture (COP) that ensures optimised awareness of joint forces operations, for more effective decision-making and action.
To meet this requirement, Thales has developed a software system designed to provide the operational community with secure access to multiple COPs. Tactical information from multiple data sources delivers improved situational awareness of joint forces operations, thereby ensuring information superiority across the battlespace.
Each COP is displayed in real time and includes key elements such as operations in progress, the logistical and operational capabilities of friendly and enemy forces, and possible action plans for future coordinated efforts
Image courtesy Thales