EADS Defence & Security (DS) has delivered the first five SIR (Regimental Information System) command systems to the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA), which will equip the new generation of VBCI armoured vehicles. This delivery results from three years of development work conducted in close collaboration with the DGA and the representatives of the French Army. Ultimately, 110 VBCIs will be equipped with the SIR, which will be used in the different theatres of operation where the French Army is deployed.

The SIR technology is interoperable with the other command systems of the French Army and NATO and was entirely produced by DCS, which constantly upgrades the system to satisfy the Army's requirements. At the core of the digitisation of the battle space, this system permits fully integrated command at regiment, group, battalion, squadron and company levels.

DCS developed this technology to meet the highly specific needs of the French Ministry of Defence, to speed up the Command and Control processes and fully coordinate the units and weapons systems while guaranteeing very high mobility and surveillance capacities. The company is currently commissioned with the production of the SIR vehicles and the scalable maintenance of the SIR software while it is being used by the Armed Forces, and will provide SIR vehicle hardware maintenance until 2013.

Hervé Guillou, President of Defence and Communications Systems, said, “In delivering this new generation of SIR command systems, EADS Defence & Security is further reinforcing its relationship of trust with the French Ministry of Defence. Thanks to the work of our teams, we are pleased and proud to provide the French Army with innovative, high-performance French technology.”