The Army’s handheld radio war

Yesterday, the Army kicked off a possible competitive buy for Rifleman Radios currently produced by a partnership of General Dynamics and Thales Communications -- a procurement eventually worth billions of dollars, according to vendors at the annual Association of the United States Army conference.

The Army has bought roughly 19,000 of the 2-pound handheld radios from GD/Thales including a procurement of 13,000 authorized by the Pentagon this summer.

Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno said at the AUSA conference yesterday that he wants individual soldiers equipped with radios to enable them to push information up the command chain.