ST. LOUIS, 24 April 2007. The Boeing Company has delivered the first full-rate production combat survivor evader locator (CSEL) radios -- a total of 5,053 units -- to the U.S. Department of Defense, bringing the total number of CSEL radios delivered to the warfighter to 11,436.

CSEL is the U.S. Department of Defense's program for combat search-and-rescue communications. To date, the Joint Services have ordered 16,272 CSEL radios and support equipment, including a second $36 million full-rate production order.

"Demand for CSEL remains high because it's an end-to-end system that provides secure, worldwide coverage on a continuous basis, which means a lot to the warfighter," says Michael Bates, Boeing CSEL program manager.

The multifunction CSEL system includes unique communication and message encryption techniques to prevent signals from being intercepted or decoded.

Using communications satellites and global positioning technology, CSEL radios will save lives by providing real-time encrypted information about the precise location of isolated personnel, such as downed pilots.

In addition to geopositioning information, the hand-held survival radios provide recovery forces and over-the-horizon joint search-and-rescue centers with two-way secure data communications capability. CSEL enables rescue forces to authenticate and communicate with isolated personnel in near real-time, anywhere in the world.