The French multinational Thales has been working in a revolution for years that equate the artificial intelligence (AI) or even the space race, and which is key to world powers in the current geopolitical context: that of microscopic sensors. It materializes in tiny antennas capable of detecting a nuclear submarine or in ultra compact sensors for ships, airplanes or satellites, which can be oriented without the need for GPS and more safely. They are the technologies that will be used tomorrow on the battlefield. In its laboratories in Palaiseau, on the outskirts of Paris, the company develops all these advances based on quantum algorithms and with multiple applications for defense, medicine or space. They are those that will allow Europe to have sovereignty in all these areas, «explains Philippe Klinge, communication director in the company's research and development area. Thales is a European leader for advanced technologies in aerospace and cybersecurity defense systems and has an important industrial presence in Spain. It is the company that manufactures the sensors that are used today in antidron systems or in border control biometric. «Both AI and quantum technology are very current fields, although in the latter case it is known, it is an almost invisible revolution. The quantum has a mysterious side that must begin to demystify. This technology is found today in a turning point that opens a wide field of application and is what will allow us to advance in this career for strategic autonomy,» says Klinge. In Europe in quantum research, engineers and physicists work in ultra precise sensors and navigation systems to guide drones, airplanes or ships or communications networks, much safer than the current ones. Sarah Menouni, one of the physical, shows a filament of some millimeters: it is an antenna capable of detecting low frequency electromagnetic fields, facilitating the location of nuclear submarines. To achieve this today a 600 meter structure would be needed. This antenna will begin to test from 2030 and, according to Veronique Guegan, vice president of the Thales Research Area, «it will expand the ability to detect acoustic in the underwater world, this area will revolutionize.» For its part, Klinge emphasizes that these sensors and antennas are much smaller, more sensitive and, therefore, “they have more capacity to capture, achieving a much greater result than what is obtained with traditional technologies. We do not speak of 5% or 10% more performance, but of an improvement of a 10,000. It is a radical rupture,” says Klinge. The control of this technology gives a strategic advantage, since it allows countries to protect themselves in case of cyber attacks. A quantum computer capable of solving problems that traditional ones cannot be able to break the encrypted keys in seconds and, in case of cyber attack, collapse a country. «Quantum technology allows these keys to be protected so that they are impossible to hack. It allows to verify with certainty if they have been intercepted and disappear in case someone external tries to access,» summarizes Daniel Dolfi, director of the Department of Physics. The quantum algorithms «will allow us to calculate in seconds the program of satellite constellations, while the quantum sensors will be between 100,000 times more sensitive Size: Miniaturization and broad bandwidth performance open new perspectives in defense, aviation and submarines, ”says Bernhard Quendt, technical director of Thales.
Presence in Spain
In Spain the French group has 1,300 employees and has facilities in three songs (Madrid). About 4,000 million euros in research and development of areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum technology invest a year. Thales Alenia Space, the company's space branch, and the Spanish Satellite operator Hispasat announced in January that they will develop the first quantum key distribution system destined to protect sensitive communications. This system, which will be ready in 2026 and is a pioneer worldwide, «will act as a barrier that they will not be able to cross the most advanced quantum computers.» The winds of rearme that blow in Europe drive the actions of Thales, which since January rises more than 75%. In 2024, the company billed 20,577 million, 11.7% more. Of that income, 53.5% were generated by its defense division. The benefit of last year improved 7%, to 1.9 billion. Although these advances have a key role for the future, Europe has been late for the United States or China for years. According to Quendt, «quantum technology is gradually reinventing the foundations of our technological independence and raises clear challenges in terms of competitiveness. In defense, aerospace and medical applications, where precision, reactivity and technological resilience are crucial, quantum represents an unprecedented potential. In the future, it will allow us to detect, locate, protect and communicate with a much greater efficacy.»
