Hornet and Safran Electronics & Defense signed a partnership agreement at Arquus’ headquarters in Satory, France, to promote the Hornet series of remotely operated turrets. Building on this cooperation, Hornet and Safran Electronics & Defense have joined forces to promote the Hornet brand and its products worldwide. The new partnership establishes a joint marketing strategy to take advantage of the two companies’ respective commercial presences around the world. Developed for the Scorpion program, these turrets combine Arquus’ know-how in designing and integrating systems for armored vehicles with Safran’s expertise in inertia, optronics, and electronics.
The Hornet Business Unit was officially launched in early 2021. It is dedicated to the promotion and marketing of the Hornet range, which today consists of three REMOTELY OPERATED TURRETS, the Hornet, the Hornet Lite, and the Hornet S. Hornet remote-controlled weapon stations, which have been fitted to the French Army’s Griffon vehicles since 2019, are currently being deployed on all new combat vehicles of the French Army, starting with the Jaguar and the Serval. The Hornet RCWS is thus already at the heart of the French Army’s operational deployments. They have been deployed in overseas operations for the first time in 2021. Hornet is now looking forward to welcoming new customers.
The Hornet RCWS combines the mastery of several highly technical fields: precision engineering and mechanics, secure electronics, optronics, image processing, dynamic electrical servo-control. They benefit from the most modern and advanced technologies: full HD digital image chain extended connectivity with the vetronics, tactical overview sharing thanks to augmented reality. A Hornet RCWS provides the information, reduces the processing time, improves the efficiency of the response, and ultimately ensures the protection of the vehicles and their crews. The flagship of the new range, the Hornet offers top-of-the-market performance, especially on the move. It is gyrostabilized from the optronics block, allowing for exceptional stability and accuracy.
Fitted with a Sensor Unit designed in close cooperation with the world-class optronics company, Safran Electronics & Defense, the system offers unique performance with a full digital optronics unit and a 13’3 16/9 full HD screen. The Sensor Unit has an uncooled thermal camera and three daylight cameras for wide-area awareness and target identification with continuous zoom and an eye-safe laser rangefinder. The user can seamlessly switch between day and night cameras. With its high-performance optics/optronics, the Hornet RCWS also serves as a first-class targeting device granting tactical vision and red force tracking to all units in the task group. The system is C4I agnostic – capable of integration with Arquus Battlenet or any interface system with capabilities such as Slew-to- Cue and Far Target Location.