Major radio programmes: technological advances are fostering a radical rethink about where the limits of Combat Net Radios (CNR) lie. The Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) and other similar activities around the world undeniably illustrate their increased versatility, enabled by the advent of the Software Defined Radio (SDR).

The widespread fielding of SDRs will begin early next decade and in the meantime countries are still investing in both hardware and hybrid software-controlled radios. Acquisitions like that of the British Bowman have been grabbing attention with nearly 40,000 radios being acquired. However, this programme is the exception rather than the rule. Other countries have been adopting a little-by-little acquisition approach, tentatively acquiring tens or hundreds of radios and integrating them before further acquisitions are made.

JTRS 

In the ground tactical environment things are heating up in the world of JTRS. Cluster 1, the overall value of which is greater than the other Clusters combined, entered its Early Operational Assessment in December 2004. This process is due to be completed in the June-July timeframe and is still said to be on track for the "2008 First Unit Equipped".

Work on the award of Cluster 5 to the General Dynamics team was delayed in July 2004 following a challenge by ITT. This company filed a complaint with the General Accounting Office that was ultimately denied, this refusal coming, in fact, shortly before the start of the Ausa exhibition in late October of that year.

The first radio that users will see of Cluster 5 is the Spiral 1 man-pack radio. This is a two-channel-simultaneous operation Software Communications Architecture (SCA)-compliant radio with a small number of waveforms and embedded GPS. The man-pack operates between 2 and 870 MHz and weighs less than six kg. By comparison the single channel 30 to 512 MHz AN/PRC-117F weights 7.25 kg. Deliveries of the so-called Engineering Development Model (EDM) could begin in late 2005.

Deliveries of EDM Spiral II radios will begin in early 2007 and cover dual-and single-channel hand-helds with embedded GPS and weights of not more than 1.36 kg and 0.91 kg respectively. The Spiral II man-pack will offer a greater number of waveforms than its predecessor. This Spiral will also see the delivery of eleven new Small Form Fit radios, which will be embedded in missile unmanned ground vehicles and aerial drones as well as Land Warrior ensembles. Under the current plans General Dynamics, BAE Systems, Rockwell Collins and Thales are on the Cluster 5 manufacture team.

Work continues on the Soldier Radio Waveform, which will endow Cluster 5 with a power efficient communications protocol. The Darpa/ITT work on the Soldier Level Communications Environment (Slice), under which the Soldier Radio Waveform is being developed, included in August 2004 the testing of its adequacy for Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (Nlos-LS) by using Cessna surrogates.

Cluster 2 had seen the least competition of any segment of the JTRS programme advancement, as a sole-source Engineering Change Proposal on the Thales Communications AN/PRC-148 Mbitr was pursued in the development of this SCA-compliant hand-held radio requirement. Although this cluster changed its name to the SOF HHR (Special Operations Forces Hand Held Radio), the US Special Operations Command (Socom) signalled its intention to continue with the same approach in May 2004--issuing a requirement for 19,000 new Jems, 12,000 upgrade kits and 9000 existing Mbitr designs. Following guarantees by Harris that the new RF300 M-HH JTRS Inter/Intra Team Radio (JITR) hand-held set could meet these requirements: the Socom revised its plans. Publicly launched at Ausa 2004, the JITR offers the same waveforms as the Jem but with the addition of the AN/PRC-117F family High Power Waveform as well as embedded GPS. A request for proposals was due in January 2005 for a competitive programme between the Jem and JITR. This competition will still see 13,000 Jem upgrade kits being acquired by US Socom alone, with Harris and TCI fighting it out for approximately 8500 further sets. This is significant as it marks the first competition between a government Cluster-funded SCA-compliant radio and one developed independently by industry, a massive validation of the JTRS competitive vision

Multiple-mode CNR type radios are already capable of UHF operation. These include both the Harris AN/PRC-117 and the Thales Mbitr, covering ranges between 30 to 512 MHz. The Cluster 1 programme amply covers the required UHF band, reaching up to two GHz today. The Department of Defense is now actively exploring how to take the JTRS spectrum and extend it to encompass the full range of US Milsatcom under the Above two Ghz (A2G) programme. This will potentially take the range up to 55 GHz. A new SCA, version 3.0, was released in August 2004 with an upgrade to 3.1 expected to appear in April. This will enable radios to operate in the new ranges.

Rockwell Collins has explored the idea of using an early version of the Cluster 1 radio to operate the SCA v2.2 compliant Milstar LDR (low-data-rate) waveform--thereby replacing two transceivers with a single A2G module. It must be noted that at 2.4 kbps, Milstar is not the most demanding of waveforms. The 127/274 Mbps CDL waveform, which A2G must address, as well as the EHF and SHF waveforms, will require replacing Cluster 1 hardware, such as the backplane and Network Interface Unit. The cost savings should not prove too radical either, with 75 per cent of terminal costs made up of power amplifiers and antenna groups. This really illustrates just how flexible SDRs have become--eliminating the somewhat artificial differences between Milsatcom terminals and Combat Net Radios.

Non-US SDRs

Rohde & Schwarz' M3TR family received a boost in 2004 with a small number of radios being acquired by the US. The Dicom RF20 radio ECCM waveform has been adopted by Rohde & Schwarz to allow it to offer a hand-held radio with the M3TR manpack. Options for the future include developing a hand-held variant of the M3TR and SCA compliance.

Rohde & Schwarz has recently garnered another order for its software-defined M3TR radios from the Swiss military. One reason given as to why the Swiss chose the M3TR was that it is in use in over ten countries, a fact which closes many interoperability arguments.

Finland's Finnish Software Radio Demonstrator programme continues. It is comprised of four projects:

* the 225 to 400 MHz Tactical Radio Communication System based on the US SCA 2.2 and Core Framework

* an adaptive antenna system for military and Tetra, GSM and 3G waveforms

* two new waveforms: a) for geo-location and b) anti-jam/LPI/LPD.

Work is being undertaken by local firm Elektrobit and is due to be completed in March 2006.

Finnish neighbour Sweden has not embarked upon a SDR programme per se. Instead, it has opted to work with the United States. The JTRS Joint Program Office is working with Sweden's FMV to develop an SCA-compliant waveform over a 30-month period. The agreement was due to be signed in December 2004, a date that was delayed due to certain American technology exchange issues. The next step for the programme could be to test an American Type III encrypted radio. Sweden has already selected the Rohde & Schwarz M3AR Series 6000 SDR for its Gripen fleet and has acquired evaluation numbers of the M3TR as part of the wide-ranging renewal of the country's CNR and for other communications.

The first Thales Communication SDR, the MSN 8100H HF SDR, has now been delivered for the Fully Integrated Communications System (Fics) aboard the British Type 45 Daring class destroyers. Thales is also closely involved with French SDR work and with Germany in the MMR-ADM 2, as well as the PR2 programmable radio sets now in development. The PR2 sets will provide 30 to 512 MHz and 1.5 to 600 MHz software radio nodes using a high data rate networking waveform, also being developed to provide ad hoc wideband networking.

Outside of Bowman, Britain is also planning to replace the small numbers of AN/PRC-148 in service with an SCA-compliant hand-held SDR and have down-selected Lockheed Martin and Thales Communications.

In Poland the RKS-8000 HF radio recently entered limited production and claims to be an SDR. The 1.5 to 30 MHz vehicular and fixed radio was developed in-house by Poland's Ministry of National Defence and tested in Iraq. The Polish armed forces are also reportedly testing the Radmor 20 to 520 MHz R3505 handheld software radio.

Japan's NEC is continuing to develop a multi-channel Cluster 1-type radio for the JSDF, this programme is supported by Raytheon in SCA compliance.

National Programmes

The Bowman programme retains its status as being the largest single CNR programme outside America. Proving that time and tide wait for no programme, the British overseas commitment means that the 12th Mechanised Brigade will deploy to Iraq in March, cutting short its Bowman test and evaluation programme which was due to be completed in July. This means that the force will have almost the full Bowman kit minus the functionality to allow for multi-brigade operations.

Harris received certification from the British crypto authorities in October for its PRC325-9 variants and will reportedly export this version, known as the MPR9600, which is being manufactured in Britain for an African customer.

In parallel to the delivery of Bowman UHF and VHF radios by ITT, 2004 saw the company's successful completion of a contract, with both American and British Ministries' funding, to provide an SCA-compliant version of five modes of the Bowman VHF waveform. The goal of this work is to have JTRS Cluster 1 radios join the Pritchell 11 encryption and for the frequency-hopping Bowman network to operate as a gateway between both countries' tactical Internets.

Britain and America are exploring deeper CNR integration including the inclusion of the HCDR and HF waveforms into the SCA-compliant waveform library.

The Austrian Conrad (Combat Net Radio) Project is in its early stages, with companies due to submit products in early 2005. The intent is to downselect to three VHF radios later this year.

Denmark has further delayed its plans to replace the Vietnam era Terma 2061-series and VRC-12 radios. An RFP was scheduled to be issued in early 2005 but this has been delayed until mid-year.

Australia's JP2072 programme has yet to see to a single prime systems integrator downselected, although over the summer bids by IBM and Raytheon Australia /Northrop Grumman were discarded. The remaining two candidates are General Dynamics and BAE Systems, the latter being the incumbent for many of the communications systems that JP2072 will integrate. The first of five JP2072 phases will accommodate a brigade sized Joint Task Force. It is described as a cross between the British Bowman and the American Win-T as it provides CNR, tactical trunk and local subsystem capabilities. The first phase, valued at roughly A$ 100 million and expected to be fielded in 2007/08, will probably maximise use of current Wagtail, Raven and Mbitr CNRs. Combat Net Radio stocks will be replaced in later stages as JP2072 is expanded throughout the ADE New radios will require embedded Saasm GPS for position functionality and new HF transceivers incorporating the now-standard MIL-STD-188-141B ALE. Some interest in JTRS has been expressed but is currently characterised as a watching brief.

Product Development

The Sincgars line remains strong. The past year has seen new ATCS users, including Croatia. With American sales to support combat operations and $ 13 million in foreign sales of the ATCS, Sincgars sales approached $ 300 million in 2004. Orders included a potential $ 2.5 billion contract with the US Army for new radios and support. Exports included a $ 4.8 million Foreign Military Sales order to Croatia (Sincgars Advanced Tactical Communication System). This contract is for 626 systems.

Continuing sales means continuing support. Tadiran Communication's American subsidiary, Talla-Tech, was awarded a $10.5 million contract in December 2004 to maintain the RT-1523A and RT-1523D in Army service, which, if all options are exercised, could rise in value to around $ 80 million.

In Tadiran's own range the company increased the data capability of the CNR9000 to 85 kbps on 25-kHz spaced tactical VHF/FM channels. In the HF Domain the HF-6000 now offers a new high data rate modem capable of 9.6 kbps and compliance with Stanag-4539, stanag-5066 and MS e-mail products. Elsewhere in the HF range, the company's Telefunken Racoms subsidiary displayed mock-ups of its HRM 8000 software radio for the first time at Eurosatory 2004. The radio is due for release in 2005.

2004 also saw ITT launch its BTCS solution that is based on the Bowman ADR. This offers the British 'flavour' of Sincgars and the Mercury HCDR for export. Key advantages of the BTCS over the Sincgars included embedded routing at all levels down to the AN/PRC-PRC355 VHF five Watt radio, and includes embedded GPS. The Sincgars ATCS is limited to routing in vehicle-mounted systems. At Ausa in October 2004, ITT announced that an embedded GPS kit was being offered for Sincgars ESIP radios. Furthermore, the potential for Britain to export its Pritchell Comsec algorithms used in the Bowman solution is an added attraction.

In the meantime, the Mercury has been exported to a number of counties including Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Australia. Another wideband networking radio, the EPLRS, has also been delivered to Australia for evaluation.

The Army has recently ordered 1000 AN/PRC-150 HF and 600 AN/PRC-117F radio sets to equip four divisions and hence provide them with additional beyond-line-of-sight capability. Prior to Operation Telic, the Royal Marines took delivery of the PRC-117F to act as gateways into the US tactical Internet for operations in the south of Iraq.

Turning to Afghanistan, the Mbitr tied into a Viasat modem became the UHF satcom of choice for deployed units, where it was dubbed Msat. In August, the Department of Defense issued new plans to increase the ceiling number of Mbitrs it could buy from 30,000 to 47,000 with available funds rising from $ 208 million to $ 335.5 million.

Soldier Modernisation

The demand to extend tactical communications down to individual personnel has created the market for Personal Role Radios (PRR) illustrated by the eponymous Selenia Communications H4885 radio developed for the British market. Since winning this contract in 2000, Selenia has added a large number of customers for this set. Although Britain remains its largest single customer, newcomers include the US Marine Corps, Canada, Australia, Jordan and Kuwait (a larger number of countries having acquired evaluation quantities).

Saab has had some success with its SRR330, although the Swedish firm's activities in the field have recently been sold to Telephonics in America, who will operate locally under the name Telephonics Sweden.The company had successfully offered the SRR330 as the Trulink for several years in the US market.

The SRR is also the physical basis of the hand-held SOLdier Advanced Radio (Solar), developed by Thales. Designed for ten-set duplex operations, the 400 MHz UHF radio has an urban range of 300 metres and one kilometre in open terrain with signals encrypted at ranges of over one kilometre. Like the JTRS SFF variants, it also has an embedded form of which 70 were used in IdZ (Infanterist der Zukunft) ensembles deployed in Kosovo.

As for the Tadiran Communications PNR-500, this radio has 15 preset frequency channels. However, using TDMA technology these can be divided by four allowing each conference group to reach as high as 60. Unlike a number of other PRR-type radios, Tadiran has eliminated the need to establish a master-unit with which radios entering the network must synchronise. The fully duplex PNR-500 operates in the 410 to 450 MHz frequency range, weighs less than 360 grams and has a secondary cell power of twelve hours effective in a range of up to 800 meters.

Publicly launched in late 2003, The PNR-500 has been selected as the basis for Israel's SMP programme, which is currently in development. At Ausa in October 2004, Talla-Tech said that a number of PNR-500 radios had been sold to the American special ops community.

At $ 1000 to $ 2000 per unit, the new ITT SpearNet radio offers a significant improvement in capabilities beyond the PRR class of radio. Throughput on the full duplex voice SpearNet is greater than two Mbps in a network with a frequency range of 2.4 to 2.8 MHz. Future versions will cover up to five GHz. SpearNet uses PN-coded spread spectrum technology in a frequency-hopping, self-forming network. Running off six AA batteries, the life of the radio is put at eight hours based on a 10:10:80 ratio. ITT put the cost of developing the SpearNet at $ 30 million. The components are all cots-based and Milspec standard in a ruggedised form factor. The combination allows easy export and use in coalition operations. The range of the system is advertised as two kilometres in urban terrain--some three to four times that of the 802.11B wireless protocol but has been demonstrated at six km in line-of-site operation.

A stalwart of vehicle mounted radio communications is the EPLRS. With the Microlight variant Raytheon has produced a PDA-sized variant weighing just 17.2 oz, without the battery. The radio has an EPLR throughput of 2.9 Mbps per network with a maximum of 489 Kbps throughput per user with power output ranging from 50 mW to 5 W. Launched in 2003, the Microlight was selected by General Dynamics in view of installation in the Land Warrior Block 1 Stryker interoperable ensemble. Using VoIP the Microlight enables voice communications over Internet Protocol.

The Army has also asked for a JTRS waiver to acquire 6000 radios to support intermediate dismounted C2. Raytheon has also developed 'SFF' embedded variants for use the Silent Eyes and ScanEagle drones. With capability comes cost: the Type 1 encrypted Microlight is put at $ 5000, with the additional encryption adding roughly $ 2000 to the price.

Conclusion

While JTRS marches on, all militaries, including those of the United States, have to deal with the reality of providing improved communications to soldiers in the field, although many do not have the luxury of waiting for cost-effective, SCA-compliant SDRs. Consequently, they are relying on software-enhanced single-channel radios that are invariably neither multi-band nor multi-mode. Acquisitions made now will see these radios in service for the next 25 years or longer--irrespective of the undeniable advantages of JTRS or future programmes.