Army kicks off $988 million radio buy for tactical vehicles

The Army on Tuesday launched a multiple award procurement valued at $988 million to buy advanced vehicle radios during the next decade.

Service officials did not say how many radios they planned to purchase, but depending on the price per radio, a tab of slightly less than $1 billion could cover the purchase of up to 50,000 radios.

The Army wants vendors to develop single channel vehicle radios that run the government-owned Joint Tactical Radio System Soldier Radio Waveform, which is used in handheld Rifleman Radios and manpack sets, and can be mounted in chassis that also hold older Single-Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System radios.

A waveform is software that defines data rate, bandwidth, modulation, frequency and security. The Solider Radio Waveform supports both voice communications and data transmission at rates up to 1 megabit per second.

The Army expects to award the vehicle radio contracts next April, with a first delivery order for 238 radios that operate at the Secret level followed by a second delivery order for 554 unclassified radios. These first two delivery orders will support two brigades under the service’s process for fielding integrated network systems to its tactical units.

A range of vendors is expected to vie for a place on the contract, including General Dynamics C4 Systems, Harris Corp., ITT Exelis and Raytheon, industry sources said.

Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamic’s C4 Systems, said his company already has developed a vehicle radio, which uses a mechanical holster that fits into the SINCGARS chassis. He said the Rifleman Radio has close to unlimited range through mesh networking technology in which one radio serves as a relay and repeater for other nearby radios. The Army has contracted to buy 19,000 Rifleman Radios produced by General Dynamics and Thales Communications, Marzilli said.

Spokeman Ben Rand said Harris plans to bid on the vehicle radio contract, and he pointed out that the company won a $1.9 million order for vehicle radios based on its handheld radio that will be used in the Army Network Integration Evaluation exercise this month at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

The Army kicked off the single channel vehicle radio buy soon after vendors submitted bids on a contract initially valued at $140 million for up to 5 ,000 two-channel vehicle radios that incorporate the Soldier Radio Waveform and the broadband Wideband Networking Waveform.