French defence and technology group Thales plans to hire 12,000 new staff this year as there is strong demand across its product range, CEO Patrice Caine said in an interview with French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche. He said that over the past eight years Thales, which has total staff of 80,000 of which 40,000 in France, had recruited 5,000 to 8,000 people per year and that last year already it had hired 11,500 new staff.