Voice Of America

Strong demand continues to be witnessed in the North American tactical radios market led by the United States armed forces which are pursuing significant procurements to overhaul the communications used across its land forces.

In late August 2016, Datron was awarded a contract through the US Army to provide up to $495 million worth of communications equipment to the Afghan National Army (ANA) by 2021. Open sources note that, previously, the ANA had employed AN/PRC-77 radios, which can trace their lineage back to the late 1960s, plus a clutch of Russian systems including the R-130 and R-123 transceivers. The company also benefited from an earlier contract exercised through the US Army in May 2016 when it was tasked to provide $13.4 million worth of radios and spare parts to the ANA, with the contract to be completed this year. Chalking up additional successes in Afghanistan, Datron had earlier been awarded a contract worth $25.4 million in August 2009 to provide PRC-1077 VHF (Very High Frequency) man pack, HH-7700 VHF handheld and PRC-1099 HF (High Frequency) man pack radios. No information appears to have been published regarding the transceivers to be supplied to the ANA as a result of the two 2016 contracts.

I HARRIS