France orders 3,000 camouflage nets for cloaking foxhole radio signals

MILAN — The French government’s military-procurement agency has placed an order for thousands of Saab multispectral camouflage nets designed to conceal troops formations’ electromagnetic signature on the battlefield.

The Direction Générale de l’Armement announced in a Feb. 27 release that it has ordered 3,000 multispectral Barracuda camouflage nets from the Stockholm-based defense company.

“Saab’s subcontractor, the French SME Solarmtex, based in Vierzon, France, will carry out their manufacturing and assembly,” the release said.

The order is valued at $21.6 million and the nets are expected to be delivered between 2024 and 2026 to the French Army and the Air and Space Force.

According to the DGA release, the mesh will enhance the discretion of brigade, combined arms and vehicle battle groups as well as other sensitive targets by masking their visible, infrared and radar signatures.

Detection by way of electromagnetic emissions, and subsequent targeting, is a constant danger faced by Ukrainian forces in their defense against Russian invaders.

Saab’s nets are the culmination of a two-year development program between the company, DGA and the Technical Section of the Army (STAT) to meet the French forces’ requirements.

In September, the Swedish company told Defense News that it had integrated its Barracuda camouflage net with a new feature that would change how troops communicate by allowing selected radio-frequencies to pass through the mesh.

“It is integrated with material that acts as a low-pass filter, allowing the selected radio-frequencies of their choice to pass either way through the camouflage screen while also protecting soldiers against higher ones of electromagnetic waves used by radar systems,” Johan Jersblad, senior development engineering at Saab told reporters then during online briefing.

At the time, the Ultra-Lightweight Camouflage Screen-Frequency Selected Surface (ULCAS-FSS) was not yet in service, as it was only unveiled at the 2023 DSEI defense exhibition in London. The intention was to eventually mass-produce it in Sweden.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——法国政府的军事采购机构订购了数千张萨博多光谱伪装网，旨在隐藏战场上部队编队的电磁特征。

法国国防部在 2 月 27 日发布的一份声明中宣布，已向总部位于斯德哥尔摩的国防公司订购了 3,000 张多光谱梭鱼伪装网。

新闻稿称：“萨博的承包商，位于法国维耶尔宗的法国中小企业Solarmtex，将负责进行制造和组装。”

该订单价值 2160 万美元，预计将于 2024 年至 2026 年间向法国陆军和空军交付渔网。

根据美国国防采购局发布的消息，该网状结构将通过掩盖可见光、红外和雷达特征，增强旅级、合成兵种和车辆战斗群以及其他敏感目标的隐蔽性。

通过电磁辐射进行探测并随后进行目标定位，是乌克兰军队在抵御俄罗斯入侵者时面临的持续危险。

Saab 的这款防护网是该公司、法国国防装备总局 (DGA) 和陆军技术部门 (STAT) 历时两年研发计划的成果，旨在满足法国军队的需求。

9 月，这家瑞典公司告诉《防务新闻》，它已将 Barracuda 伪装网与一项新功能相结合，该功能允许选定的无线电频率穿过网眼，从而改变部队的通信方式。

“它与一种低通滤波器材料相结合，允许选定的无线电频率穿过伪装屏，同时还能保护士兵免受雷达系统使用的高频电磁波的伤害，”萨博高级开发工程师约翰·杰斯布拉德当时在一次在线简报会上告诉记者。

当时，超轻型伪装屏频率选择表面（ULCAS-FSS）尚未服役，因为它只是在2023年伦敦DSEI防务展上首次亮相。其最终目标是在瑞典进行大规模生产。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。