18 Nov 05. BAE Systems North America displayed its Wideband Programmable Network Radio (WPNR) at the Dubai Air Show.
“VRC-99 is now established in the U.S. inventory in all three services and for Soothsayer in the U.K.,” BAE told BATTLESPACE. “The systems is exceeding all requirements and is here being demonstrated in the Homeland Security configuration in the exportable variant, WPNR. “
VRC-99 was originally offered to the UK as part of the Archer proposal for Bowman but was superceded by the ITT HCDR.
“VRC-99 is one of the most advanced Ethernet-based radios available today. Its quality of service and ability to connect node-to-node gives it unique advances over its competitors. We have had considerable interest in the system from eastern Europe where we have won business in Bulgaria and we have been shortlisted with Thales for the Czech Army requirement.”
“The ability of the WPNR to establish self-forming networks is crucial on today’s battlefield. The abilities of this radio to link up to several nodes whilst maintaining a strong network, gives BAE a huge advantage over our competitors. The system will automatically route any radio that enters the network and pick the shortest path from node to node maximizing throughput, all while maintaining network quality”
The Editor asked whether the radio was being considered for any applications in the UK but outside Bowman and we were told that considerable interest had been expressed by a number of UK potentials but they were waiting for decisions on the final structure of the network.