THALES setting up ATM research center in Australia

The Australian arm of THALES is busy setting up a brand new research and development center in Melbourne, Australia to work on advanced air traffic management systems. The new center called CASIA (Centre for Advanced Studies in ATM) will concentrate the firm’s work on new air traffic management systems for Australia as well as the rest of the world. It will start cracking early in 2011.
“CASIA is the result of long term investment in our ATM business, which has grown from just a few employees 15 years ago to a global centre of excellence employing 400 people in highly skilled jobs,” said Chris Jenkins, Thales Australia’s CEO. “Thales Australia is ideally placed to offer local, regional and global customers the most innovative ATM solutions in the world today, building on our success with the Eurocat system and enabling effective airspace management in an era of increasing air traffic and technological complexity.”
For several years now we have witnessed how new and advanced ATM systems and technologies were proliferating in that part of the world while Europe was still trying to decide which way to go… In fact, during SESAR’s definition phase, THALES supported the work with an expert who came from Australia and who was the voice of reasoned vision. If he and others like him will take part in CASIA, it will be a very nice place to work at.
This is a very important and forward looking step from THALES but I cannot escape a nagging question.
Why not in Europe…?

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