Army, Marines buying leads of radios.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: UPFRONT

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...