SFENA
The SFENA or SFENA ( Société Française d'Equipements pour la Navigation Aérienne ) was a manufacturer of aircraft equipment before it was incorporated into the Thomson CSF group.
history
SFENA was founded in the French department of Hauts-de-Seine in the 1950s . Twenty years later (1971) the company moved from Neuilly-sur-Seine to Vélizy-Villacoublay near the local military airfield. There the manufacturer took over the old arms factory from Châtellerault, which he converted into a production facility for artificial horizons. The development of laser technology was also followed there.
In 1989 the company and its subsidiary “SVA” (Société Vendômoise d'Avionique) disappeared into the “Sextant Avionique”. They were involved in the re-establishment of Crouzet, EAS and the aviation division of Thomson-CSF.
The new company, in which Thomson-CSF originally held 66% and Aérospatiale 34%, was renamed just "Sextant" over time. After Aérospatiale had transferred its shares to Thomson, the company became "Thomson-CSF Sextant". In 2000, after the founding of the Thales Group, it finally became “Thales Avionics”.
Products
SFENA mainly produced artificial horizons , autopilots , aircraft controls and measuring probes . In the course of developing electronic circuits, SFENA began to develop systems for automated tests for its own use, as there was nothing like this on the market at that time. This resulted in a separate department with a complete range of products, which was also marketed. This division was not part of the 1989 merger but was later taken over by EADS .
The fly-by-wire system of the Airbus A320 was developed by SFENA. Today the Airbuses are equipped with avionics from Thales.
SFENA also developed and sold computer systems , but this branch went under with the advent of the personal computer .