NEWS FROM EUROSATORY
By Adam Baddeley
Harris qualifying the Falcon Three
14 Jun 04. The third iteration of successful Falcon family of software defined radios is undergoing crypto qualification in the US. The radio is currently midway through the Commercial Comsec Endorsement Programme and is being sponsored through this process by USSOCOM. It began in August 2003 and is expected to reach completion in March 2005 with production planned to begin within one or two months of this point. The radio, which as yet does not have a company name, has been playfully dubbed the ‘300M’. Key capabilities offered by the radio are JTRS SCA and ORD compliance. The initial submission is for a radio offering between 30-520MHz – marginally exceeding radios such ass the 30-512MHz Thales MBITR JEM, Harris’ existing RF5800M-HH and Tadiran Communications’ PRC-710MB. As part of the engineering progression the next step would be to offer 30MHz-1GHz via a new power amplifier board.
Harris plans to instantiate several waveforms in software including the troubled APCO 25 waveform, SINCGARS, HAVEQUICK II and the Mil-STD-188-181B. In addition it will operate the COBRA waveform enabling interoperation with the Boeing CSEL radio, providing BFT for downed pilots.
To fully exploit this capability an embedded GPS will be included in the radio. A further addition is the inclusion of the High Power Waveform (HPW), a proprietary waveform developed by the company for the AN/PRC-117F. The HPW is designed for TACSAT at rates of 64Kbps and also supports ground based LOS operations. The radio will use the PRC-117F user interface.
Mock-ups of the radio have shown an almost identical form factor to the RF5800U-HH hand held UHF radio.
An early version of this radio was used to illustrate Cluster 5 capabilities at the ‘first look’ demonstration to CECOM at Fort Monmouth in November 2003. At this demonstration the use of both SINCGARS and HAVEQUICK II were shown. Also shown was streaming video transmission at frequencies of approximately 800MHz.
Harris is offering its products for the Ausytralian JP2072 programme to the primes.
Oerlikon air defence solution uses the NTDR
15 Jun 04. Oerlikon Contraves latest air defence solution, the Piranha 3 mounted Skyranger, is being offered with the UHF NTDR – the US designation for the Mercury radio. The 35mm turret mounted cannon receives information from an NTDR network linked to its fire control centre. The vehicle has a VHF radio and vehicle intercom system installed for voice and crew communications. Testing of the Skyranger was undertaken at Oerlikon Contraves Canada earlier this year. The NTDR is not cleared for export to Switzerland.
Roda showed a number of new products
15 Jun 04. The German ruggedised computing manufacturer Roda showed a number of new products and developments at Eurosatory. On the company’s stand was a new iPAQ based PDA-the DA04M using a 4” reflective TFT screen and an Intel Xscale 400MHz CPU. Users have a choice of three OS: Windows PC2003, Windows CE.NET or a Linux based open system. Weight is 410g and is ruggedised to MIL-STD 810-F. Elsewhere in the ruggedised computer portfolio both the Rocky II PM ruggedised notebook and the Panther DR786EX-M are now being offered with the option of a Pentium M 1.4GHz Celeron CPU and with a level 2 cache of 1Mb. A NVG compatible version of the Panther is also now being offered. The company has a number of Central European customers including Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria with smaller orders placed by Hungary and Poland. The Rocky II PM is being used by the German armed forces in a number of programmes including the Faust and Heros C2 systems and the Adler artillery C2 system. In Switzerland the computer it is being used to support the VINACCS BMS project.
Tadiran outlines CNR developments
15 Jun 04. Tadiran Communications’ 30-108MHz CNR-9000 ECCM Combat Net Radio (CNR) has achieved a significant boost in data capab