Army awards Exelis five-year deal for battlefield radios

The Army has awarded a five-year contract to Exelis to provide radio appliqués capable of running the Army Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW), the company announced. The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, with a potential ceiling of $988 million, also includes five one-year options.

SRW, developed by Exelis, operates in the UHF and L-Band frequency ranges and provides an affordable second channel solution to Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems (SINCGARS) vehicular radio installations.

Exelis initially will provide SideHat, a 5.9-pound, NSA-certified radio that attaches to SINCGARS installations, offering interoperable wideband network communications for Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team (E-IBCT) deployments and other SRW applications.

Exelis said it designed SideHat to easily integrate with SINCGARS, the Army’s primary tactical communications backbone. SINCGARS with SideHat and SRW provides a system solution with up to four-channels (2 SRW and 2 VHF), Exelis said. It provides dismounted soldiers the ability to communicate both voice and data to mounted soldiers in vehicles within a larger network. 

“The SRW Appliqué will provide the U.S. Army with a cost-effective means to add a robust waveform for battlefield communications,” said Nick Bobay, president of the Exelis Night Vision and Communications Solutions division. “As the developer of SRW and the manufacturer of an installed base of nearly 600,000 Army radios, we have the capability to deliver both the performance and value expected from fielding the SRW Appliqué.”