CLARKSBURG, Md., 22 Feb. 2013. U.S. Army leaders needed body-worn secure radios to support a battlefield situational awareness initiative called Nett Warrior. They found their solution from Thales Communications Inc. in Clarksburg, Md., and General Dynamics C4 Systems in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The Army has announced a low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract to Thales and General Dynamics for the Nett Warrior Radio, which gives soldiers access to the government's classified networks at the secret or sensitive-but-unclassified levels.

The award is for 2,052 Nett Warrior radios and associated ancillaries. Half of the radios will be produced by General Dynamics, and half will be produced by Thales Communications. Deliveries are scheduled to begin this quarter. The order is worth as much as $11 million, according to a General Dynamics announcement issued last November.

The radio is a lightweight, body worn unit that transmits voice and data simultaneously with the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) -- a software-defined radio application administered by the U.S. military Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program that facilitates mobile ad-hoc networking.

The Nett Warrior Radio with the Soldier Radio Waveform application enables self-forming, ad-hoc, voice and data battlefield networks to help any leader at the tactical level track the positions of individual soldier.

The Nett Warrior Radio was developed together by Thales and General Dynamics under the Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit (HMS) program, primed by General Dynamics.

"The Nett Warrior Radio provides soldiers with capabilities not previously available in a body worn radio. It gives dismounted soldiers access to mission-critical, classified information as well as a much-needed situational awareness capability that can save lives," says Michael Sheehan, president and CEO of Thales Communications.

“By providing a lighter, smaller radio capable of two levels of security, Nett Warrior soldiers will have increased agility and significantly improved access to classified mission-critical information,” says Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamics C4 Systems. “That combination can help save American soldiers’ lives.”

Thales designs and integrates radio solutions for a broad range of platforms, including armored vehicles, dismounted infantry, helicopters, aircraft, and naval vessels.

General Dynamics C4 Systems specializes in command and control, communications networking, rugged computing, information assurance and cyber defense.

For more information contact Thales Communications online at www.thalescomminc.com, or General Dynamics C4 Systems.