Safran plans significant US expansion of defense and space business

French technology company Safran is significantly expanding its defense and space business in the United States, including investments in manufacturing across several states.

Newly branded Safran Defense & Space Inc. will focus on bringing its high-tech solutions in satellite propulsion and communication, geospatial artificial intelligence and GPS-denied navigation to the U.S. in a more robust way, Joe Bogosian, Safran president and CEO, told Defense News in a recent interview.

Safran is also well known for its best-selling commercial jet engine it developed in a joint venture with General Electric.

While the company’s technology has been integrated into many U.S.-based weapon systems, such as the commander’s site on the Army’s new M10 Booker armored fighting vehicle, Bogosian said, the U.S. expansion will enable even better collaboration with the U.S. military and defense industry and foster continued innovation with American engineers and developers.

“I think it meshes well with kind of a new thinking in the U.S.,” Bogosian said.

“What is the best available technology or the asymmetric warfare to give our guys an unfair advantage? If that unfair advantage comes with a technology that’s five years ahead of its time compared to anything else in the U.S. and just happens to come from France, we can bring it from France,” he said, “and we can put it here and put further design, further engineering and manufacturing, all in the U.S. and you start to morph that technology into a U.S. variety.”

The company will soon open its new headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Colocated at the headquarters will be the company’s new geospatial artificial intelligence business grown from a recently purchased French AI company with the ability to crunch a massive amount of data very quickly.

The newly acquired technology surprised everyone in the room during a demonstration for Special Operations Command in Florida meant to show how the technology can rapidly count cars and boats in an area. It suddenly flagged the presence of a Russian MiG fighter jet, according to Bogosian. The system was not mistaken; it turned out there was a MiG on display outside of an aviation museum in Miami.

Expansions to current Safran facilities include its electro-optics and infrared systems facility in Bedford, New Hampshire, and the Safran Federal Systems facility for Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing in Rochester, New York.

The company is also setting up its newest facility for small satellite propulsion in Denver, Colorado. Once established, Bogosian sees the potential for expansion beyond producing plasma propulsion systems for satellites to include other capabilities, such as Safran’s Hemispherical Resonator Gyroscope, which has been tested by the U.S. military.

“We feel the demand for HRG is going to double, and so clearly, it just opens the door for another capability to be brought into the U.S.,” he said.

Additional investment will be made in testing and telemetry operations in Norcross, Georgia.

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

法国科技公司赛峰集团正在大幅拓展其在美国的国防和航天业务，包括在多个州进行制造业投资。

赛峰集团总裁兼首席执行官乔·博戈西安在最近接受《防务新闻》采访时表示，新更名为赛峰防务与航天公司的赛峰集团将专注于以更强大的方式将其在卫星推进和通信、地理空间人工智能和无 GPS 导航方面的高科技解决方案引入美国。

赛峰集团还因其与通用电气合资开发的畅销商用喷气发动机而闻名。

博戈西安表示，虽然该公司的技术已被整合到许多美国武器系统中，例如陆军新型 M10 Booker 装甲战车的指挥官网站，但此次在美国的扩张将使该公司能够与美国军方和国防工业更好地合作，并促进与美国工程师和开发人员的持续创新。

博戈西安说：“我认为这与美国的某种新思维方式非常契合。”

“什么才是目前最好的技术或非对称作战方式，能给我们的士兵带来不公平的优势？如果这种不公平的优势来自于一项比美国任何其他技术都领先五年，而且恰好来自法国的技术，我们可以把它从法国引进，”他说，“然后我们可以把它放在这里，在美国进行进一步的设计、工程和制造，并开始将这项技术改造成美国版本。”

该公司即将于弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿开设新的总部。与新总部毗邻的还有该公司新成立的地理空间人工智能业务部门，该部门由该公司近期收购的一家法国人工智能公司发展而来，拥有快速处理海量数据的能力。

在佛罗里达州为特种作战司令部进行的一次演示中，这项新引进的技术让在场的所有人都感到惊讶。此次演示旨在展示该技术如何快速统计特定区域内的车辆和船只数量。据博戈西安称，系统突然检测到一架俄罗斯米格战斗机的存在。事实证明，系统并没有出错；迈阿密一家航空博物馆外确实展出了一架米格战斗机。

赛峰集团现有设施的扩建项目包括位于新罕布什尔州贝德福德的光电和红外系统设施，以及位于纽约州罗切斯特的赛峰联邦系统公司（负责可靠定位、导航和授时）设施。

该公司还在科罗拉多州丹佛市筹建其最新的小型卫星推进系统工厂。博戈西安认为，一旦工厂建成，其业务范围将不仅限于生产卫星等离子体推进系统，还将扩展到其他领域，例如赛峰集团的半球谐振器陀螺仪，该陀螺仪已由美国军方进行过测试。

“我们认为对HRG的需求将会翻倍，因此很明显，这为美国引进另一种能力打开了大门，”他说。

我们将加大对佐治亚州诺克罗斯的测试和遥测业务的投资。

珍·贾德森是一位屡获殊荣的记者，为《防务新闻》报道陆地战争。她也曾为《政治报》和《内幕防务》工作。她拥有波士顿大学新闻学硕士学位和凯尼恩学院文学学士学位。