Image source: topwar.ru
The British Army has carried out the largest purchase of army radio stations in the last ten years, aiming to improve the quality of communication of infantry units based on the analysis and application of the lessons of the Ukrainian conflict.
On November 25, the UK Ministry of Defense announced that it had selected L3Harris Technologies to perform its tasks. The contract is in the amount of 90 million pounds (103 million dollars) and includes the supply of more than 1300 portable and portable radio stations AN/PRC-163 (SDR). Over the next few years, they are planned to be transferred to army units. The SDR Army will replace the outdated L3Harris AN/PRC-152 and AN/PRC-117G radios that the British ground forces have been using for more than a decade.
Ian Blower, Regional Managing Director of L3Harris in the UK, emphasizes that the British army will use SDR radios to ensure interaction with international partners, as well as to improve ground-to-air communications and tactical satellite communications. Interestingly, the company supplied several thousand SDR "Type 3" to the armed forces of Ukraine.
Image source: topwar.ru
As the Ukrainian conflict has confirmed, stable communication, including between units directly at the front, plays a very important role in modern warfare. The higher the quality of communication between units, individual fighters, the more effectively they can act on the battlefield. American military experts say that radio stations, which are now planned to be supplied to the British army, played a very important role in Ukraine. The new radio stations of the British Army, as stated, will significantly increase the coordination of actions and controlled by British army units. It is expected that SDRs will be deployed in the army in 2023 and later.
AN/PRC-163 and AN/PRC-167, intended for use by infantrymen, are dual-channel SDRs providing simultaneous communication over alternative networks. Both SDRs can also work with different forms of signals, although a representative of L3Harris did not want to clarify to journalists which types were included in the contract with the army. Nevertheless, the British military expects that the new radio stations will not only increase the controllability of the British troops themselves, but also create conditions for easier integration on the battlefield with units of the US army and other NATO countries.
