During the Eurosatory 2012 exhibition (11-15 June 2012, Paris, France) the Joint Stock Company Rosoboronexport and French Thales Optronics company concluded a licence agreement for the manufacture of the Catherine XP new generation thermal imagers at the Vologda optical-mechanical plant. The two companies also signed a contract for repairs in Russia of thermal imagers made by Thales Optronics.

The contractual documents were signed on the French side by Serge Adrian, president of Thales Optronics, and on the Russian side by Igor Sevastyanov, deputy director general of «Rosoboronexport» and head of the joint delegation of Russian Technologies State Corporation and Rosoboronexport. The signing ceremony was attended by Dmitri Rogozin, deputy chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, and Dmitri Shugayev, deputy director general of the Russian Technologies State Corporation.

"We have been constantly improving our cooperation with Thales company. Signing the contract is another step in developing our relations. This is a good example of modern technologies attracted into areas where we are somehow lagging behind foreign analogues. The new thermal imagers will be manufactured for the Russian Ministry of Defence, and will also be installed in Russian-made armoured vehicles offered for export", - notes Igor Sevastyanov.

Since 2008 the Vologda optical mechanical plant has been hosting the repair and servicing centre for the Catherine FC thermal imagers. The new Catherine XP thermal imagers planned for licence production at this plant have higher resolution and target detection range than the Catherine FC. They are smaller and lighter, and consume less power than their predecessors.

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