Defence Forces to invest in secure digital radio


26 May 2006

The Irish Army has put out a tender to acquire a tactical mobile digital radio system that will be capable of resisting electronic counter measures by terrorists and other potential enemies.

According to the tender published on the Government’s eTenders procurement website, the Defence Forces are seeking to acquire a tactical digital wideband radio system.

The system must be capable of transmitting a minimum of 256KB and be able to step up the data rate in accordance with prevailing radio frequency conditions.

The system is planned to work from both a base station and vehicles as well as supporting man-pack configuration in a squad.

It is understood that the system must be highly secure in terms of resisting electronic counter measures.

The Defence Forces say the system must be robust, compliant with relevant military standard (Mil-Std) and IP standards and also must be capable of operating with the minimum need for user intervention.

According to the tender, the Defence Forces are looking for a system that can ‘self heal’ and enable the flow of IP (internet protocol) traffic.

The system must also be able to interface with a wide range of military equipment as well as laptop computers, wireless routers, switches and vehicle intercom equipment.

By John Kennedy