France selects consortium for Réseau Radio du Futur contract

A consortium led by Airbus and Capgemini has been selected by the French Ministry of the Interior and Overseas Territories as the integrator for Lot 2 of the Réseau Radio du Futur (RRF — radio network of the future), a secure and resilient broadband network project for domestic security and emergency rescue forces.

The RRF will be a national, secure, high-speed (4G and 5G) priority mobile communication system with a high level of resilience in order to guarantee the continuum of security and emergency rescue missions on a daily basis, including in the event of a crisis or major event. It is designed to equip up to 400,000 members of the security and emergency rescue forces — such as the National Gendarmerie, the national police force, firefighters and other civil security forces — allowing these users to benefit from many new multimedia services enabled by broadband, including video.

As part of RRF, Airbus will provide a solution that will allow the various stakeholders to communicate via this new network, with support from partners including Econocom, Prescom, Samsung and Streamwide. Capgemini will integrate the various technologies provided by all the project partners, including Dell Technologies and Ericsson, which will provide the telecommunications services deployed on a virtualised infrastructure.

The contract has been said to reinforce Airbus’s position as a European leader of critical communications, as well as Capgemini’s as a trusted partner in the modernisation of emergency rescue and security forces and the integration of sovereign services. The relevance of the consortium’s offer was recognised after a competitive dialogue initiated in February 2021.

“I would like to thank the Ministry of the Interior for the renewed trust it has placed in us in the context of this strategic program for French security and emergency rescue services,” said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury. “All our teams have been mobilised to provide a secure and sovereign solution to carry out missions of the utmost criticality in the service of French citizens. This project, which for Airbus is in line with other major secure communication programs carried out by our Group, demonstrates the importance of modernising these critical systems, at a national and European level.”

Capgemini CEO Aiman Ezzat added, “We are proud to become a trusted partner of the French Government for this major project. RRF will be a crucial transition for the operational efficiency of the security forces and future uses of digital technology. It is a matter of national sovereignty and the starting point for a European sector of excellence. Capgemini is a key player for a critical project of this size and complexity, given its experience, industrial capacity and unparalleled expertise in the field of secure networks, telecommunication and 5G.”

With RRF, the Ministry of the Interior modernises the tools it provides for the security and emergency rescue forces to help them carry out their daily missions as well as major diplomatic or sporting events. It is said to represent a new chapter dedicated to improving increasingly complex interventions.