Thales and LuxCarta sign a partnership to offer artificial intelligence powered solutions for military intelligence and cartography
Sophia Antipolis, France – February 23, 2023 – Thales and LuxCarta, a company specialized in the production of geospatial products derived from satellite imagery, join forces to offer artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced solutions for intelligence and military cartography. This agreement reinforces the partnership between the two companies, which have been working together since 2020.
To quickly obtain accurate geospatial data is critical to military planning and assists in the decision making of operations. The partnership agreement between Thales and LuxCarta addresses this requirement.
Thales has a recognized expertise in the production of military and intelligence maps with a detailed knowledge of the technical references specific to the military sector. The Group supports the armed forces by creating accurate and reliable maps from satellite images that are scanned and vectorized.
LuxCarta is at the forefront of the field of AI in deriving geospatial products thanks to its BrightEarth™ platform and associated technologies. The innovative small-to-medium enterprise (SME) produces very large-scale cartographic data in a very short time to serve the needs of its civilian markets. This know-how and experience has been transposed by Thales to the defence sector and integrated into its cartographic production lines and military intelligence systems.
For intelligence and military geography, AI is particularly useful in photo interpretation. For instance, this technology is able to automatically detect, interpret and digitize buildings, road networks, obstacles, vehicles, etc. By the automation of repetitive tasks, AI saves time in map production and focuses human efforts on high value-added activities.
“LuxCarta provides best-in-class AI-enhanced production of geospatial products that delivers a rapid input to our military cartographic and intelligence businesses,” said Eric Aubineau, Image & Intelligence Systems Director, Thales. “We’ve worked effectively together and it was time to formalize our partnership.”
“It is very rewarding to see all of our hard work on automating the extraction of features from satellite imagery being taken to the next level by our partner Thales,” said Albéric Maumy, CEO of LuxCarta. “We’re happy to contribute our important part to their ability to rapidly produce cartographic information and change detection intelligence capabilities.”
This winning partnership between a major defence player and an innovative small-to-medium enterprise (SME) illustrates Thales' ability to call on outside expertise to enhance the performance of its systems, accelerate its digital innovation and improve the performance of its technologies in intelligence and military geography.
