In response to booming Army and Marine Corps tactical radio orders,
manufacturers rapidly are expanding their production capacity to
meet this extraordinary demand, industry officials said.
The
most dramatic example of the recent surge in radio purchases is
the single channel ground and airborne radio system, or SINCGARS.
This combat net radio has been widely used throughout the military
services for command-and-control operations during the past two
decades. It handles both voice and data communications.
The Army currently owns 250,000 SINCGARS and is likely to order
more than 200,000 additional radios in the next several years to
equip the entire force. The National Guard alone has unfilled SINCGARS
requirements worth $400 million.
The manufacturer, ITT Industries, received a $2.5 billion contract
last year, of which $500 million worth of orders the Army already
has exercised, said company spokesman John Kirkwood. ITT is delivering
3,000 radios a month, he said. “And we still have extra capacity.”
The Army, however, determined that ITT’s line alone was not
sufficient to meet its needs, and decided to order additional radios
from Thales Communications. An industrial survey by the Army’s
Communications and Electronic Command concluded that ITT wasn’t
producing radios quickly enough, industry sources said.
To supplement the SINCGARS radios, the Army ordered from Thales
the so-called multi-band inter-intra team radio (MBITR) vehicular
adapter amplifiers, which are installed on existing SINCGARS mounting
trays on military vehicles, said Army spokesman Tim Rider. The adapter/amplifier
functions like the standard vehicular AN/VRC-92 SINCGARS. The Army
will be spending $110 million on these radios, according to Rider.
Military radio orders have soared in recent years, said Felix Boccadoro,
director of business development at Thales. The company currently
is producing 3,000 radios a month for all its Defense Department
contracts, compared to 600 two years ago.
The Marine Corps also is stocking up on new tactical radios. After
the invasion of Iraq, the Corps realized it lacked small squad-level
communications for urban operations. Marines liked the U.K. Army’s
“personal role radio” and bought 10,000 from the British
Army’s war reserve. The PRR is a small transmitter-receiver
that allows infantry soldiers to communicate over short distances—even
through thick cover or walls—without shouting, hand signals
or relaying messages.
The Marines now are looking for a long-term replacement for the
PRR, which received mostly favorable reviews from the field, but
still falls short in some areas, said James Lasswell, technical
director of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. The Corps would
like a handheld radio that offers a longer range than the PRR’s
500 meters, and also one that provides more secure encryption.
Contractors were asked this summer to submit bids for an integrated
intra squad radio, or IISR. The Marine Corps is expected to buy
anywhere between 6,000 to 60,000 radios. Industry insiders expect
an award by the end of September.
The funds for these radios are included in the fiscal year 2005
emergency war appropriations for the Defense Department, and if
the Corps fails to commit the money before the end of September,
it would risk having the Navy Department reallocate the funds to
other programs.
A spokesman for the Marine Corps Systems Command declined to comment
on the IISR program, citing the ongoing competition. An industry
official said the desired price range for these radios is from $1,200
to $2,000 per unit. By comparison, the MBITR costs about $5,000.
The Marines, the official said, are looking for a radio that is
rugged enough to last for many years.
The specifications listed in the IISR solicitation are, to the
surprise of industry experts, quite ambiguous about the performance
requirements. It’s not clear whether certain specs, such as
size or weight, are required or optional.
Radio manufacturers can anticipate a healthy flow of radio orders
for at least several more years. The fiscal year 2006 war supplemental
is expected to include at least $1.2 billion for tactical radios.