Global Airspace Radar had the opportunity to speak with Youzec Kurp, Vice-President for Airspace Mobility Solutions, Thales during the Airspace World 2026 event looking at today’s activities and the future. One topic he wanted to emphasise was “the importance of Airspace World for Thales as an opportunity to reinforce their leadership in the worldwide ATM transformation.”
Announcements during the show
The company had three announcements during the show which kicked off our discussion. These announcements crossed different regions – Singapore, Slovenia and France and different topics – UTM, surveillance and ATM systems. They showcase the ability of Thales to address different topics that are important to the ATM ecosystem. Some highlights from the announcements follow below: Thales to build Singapore’s drone traffic management platform.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has awarded Thales, as the leading partner in a consortium with Deeeplabs, a contract to deliver an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) System based on the TopSky – AstraUTM platform, to provide an integrated, one-stop portal for the approval and tracking of all unmanned aircraft (UA) operations in Singapore. Key take-away – This new project with CAAS supports Singapore’s vision for the low-altitude economy and provides a showcase for innovation and thought leadership bringing UTM and ATM together. The business model with government and private investment is also a novel approach.
Thales to enhance air traffic surveillance capabilities in Slovenian airspace
Slovenia Control has selected Thales to supply an additional co-mounted primary radar, STAR NG, and secondary surveillance radar, RSM NG, as part of the enhancement of air traffic surveillance capabilities within Slovenian airspace. Key take-away – This announcement reinforces Thales’ longevity in this market and a partnership where new technology continues to be brought to this airspace.
Thales and ENAC join forces to shape the air traffic management of the future
Thales and ENAC are joining forces to develop air traffic management solutions that enhance safety, reduce delays, and support a more sustainable airspace, with the goal of cutting CO₂ emissions in the aviation sector by around 10%. Key take-away – This partnership supports the strengthening of the French ATM system and provides the ability to demonstrate Thales’ solutions across the portfolio including cybersecurity and AI.
AI in the world of ATM
It seems as though AI was a ‘must have’ topic during the show, so we had to spend a few minutes in our discussion on this or it could feel like it was left out. We focused on cortAIx which brings together Thales’s artificial intelligence capabilities in the fields of research, sensors and systems. Initiatives in this include a lab and a factory that looks at ways to create new products which are AI-centric preparing to develop them differently and embed the functionality in new technology. With TopSky ATC One there are efforts underway in Europe, Singapore and Australia to understand how customers could use AI in the future.
ATM in the future of European Aviation
This was an Airspace World panel which Youzec participated in during the show and he shared his summary of the panel in one sentence, “the future of European aviation depends on building an integrated and resilient ecosystem.”
The emphasis in our discussion was around the ‘ecosystem’ and the importance of cooperation and harmonisation. These terms are used a lot in our industry and it’s important to understand how we can bring them to life so they don’t just remain as buzzwords. At a minimum, ANSPs in Europe need to seek alliances to be prepared for the future. COOPANS and SkyBridge are two examples of these alliances. We tend to jump to technology in these discussions and it’s important to not forget people. The next generation of ATM requires investment in training and new technology. The future workforce will not accept ATC solutions that aren’t AI-enabled as everything else they touch in their daily/work lives will be.
Looking ahead
This year Youzec was one of the expert judges for the Seamless Skies Awards and we discussed this experience. “It was an honour and a responsibility to directly influence the selection of which organisations are celebrated by this programme. This is a concrete way to support the industry and also an opportunity for early understanding to innovative technology activities.”
We discussed goals for the next 12 months for the industry, what would he like to see accomplished by next year’s Airspace World in Europe and globally. There were four topics:
- Adoption of the Common Project 2 (CP2) including the service delivery model (SDM) as a move toward the Single European Sky concept
- Budgetary alignment between ATM providers and the European Commission to support the next general of Europe’s aviation
- Advocacy within the EU for sovereign space-based surveillance solutions
- Meaningful collaboration between ANSPs, industry and regulators globally
Also, a prediction that this year we’re all about AI and next year will be cybersecurity’s time in the spotlight.
In summary, some parting words “the challenge we have isn’t the lack of technology, it’s the speed of adoption.”
