Thales and ELT Group Form Naval Electronic Warfare Joint Venture: An Export-Focused 50-50 Partnership
French defense giant Thales and Italian electronic-warfare specialist ELT Group announced on November 4, 2026, at the Euronaval exhibition in Paris, that they have formed a joint venture dedicated to naval electronic warfare systems. The new company, named Thales ELT Naval EW Solutions, will be owned equally, with each partner holding a 50 percent stake.
The venture’s mission is to design naval electronic-warfare systems aimed squarely at the international market, with export sales as the stated priority. By pooling their technologies and product lines, the two companies plan to offer a broader, complementary catalogue for protecting naval platforms. The new entity will bring together electronic support measures (ESM) and electronic countermeasures (ECM) — capabilities that let a ship detect, identify and analyse electromagnetic emissions and develop a response to threats bearing down on it. The stated goal is to raise both the operational effectiveness of warships and the safety of their crews.
Built on two decades of cooperation
Both firms point to more than twenty years of prior collaboration, much of it through the Sigen consortium, which has long supported the French and Italian navies. The new joint venture is being presented as the next step in that Franco-Italian industrial partnership. Leadership will be split between the two parent companies: Matthieu Bouquet, appointed by Thales, becomes the venture’s initial chairman, while Gianni Maratta, named by ELT Group, takes the chief executive role.
Domitilla Benigni, ELT Group’s CEO and Chief Operating Officer, said the industrial partnership “will expand the capabilities of both companies.” Philippe Duhamel, Thales’s Executive Vice-President for Defence Mission Systems, said the agreement reinforces a joint commitment to electromagnetic-spectrum technologies applied to the naval domain.
Two heavyweight European suppliers
ELT Group brings 75 years of history, a presence in more than 30 countries, and over 3,000 systems delivered to date. Its track record includes the Eurofighter Typhoon, FREMM-class frigates, PPA multipurpose patrol vessels, and the sixth-generation Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP); its subsidiaries include CY4GATE and E4Life. Thales, for its part, is one of Europe’s leading technology groups across defence, aerospace and cybersecurity, employing more than 85,000 people in 65 countries. It posted €22.1 billion in sales in 2025 and invests €4.5 billion a year in research and development.
A new player entering a tightening market
The announcement names international navies seeking to modernise their electronic-warfare capabilities as the venture’s target customers, without identifying specific countries. Financial terms, a timeline for the company’s formal launch, and any initial programmes or customers were not disclosed — details that, in deals of this kind, typically surface once board structures and regulatory approvals are finalised and the first firm contracts materialise.
Naval electronic warfare determines whether a ship can make itself effectively invisible to enemy radar, guided weapons and electronic surveillance, or deflect an incoming threat before it strikes. Attacks by uncrewed surface vessels and cruise missiles in the Black Sea and Red Sea over the past several years have pushed this capability up the priority list not just for the largest navies but for mid-sized fleets as well. That Thales and ELT Group chose to pursue this field jointly, rather than compete head-on, suggests the market is shifting toward scale and breadth of portfolio as the deciding factors, rather than individual company strength alone. Which navy becomes the venture’s first customer, and how quickly the new company moves from announcement to formal incorporation, are the two questions worth watching next.
Sources: Infodefensa, “Thales y ELT Group crean una empresa conjunta para desarrollar sistemas de guerra electrónica naval destinados a la exportación” (November 4, 2026); joint Thales/ELT Group press statement, Euronaval 2026. Image: Envanter Medya.
