U.S. Coast Guard leaders needed medium-powered, high-frequency automated link establishment (HF-ALE) radios for Coast Guard cutter surface ships to be acquired over the next five to seven years. They found their solution at Thales Communications Inc. in Clarksburg, Md.

Thales systems are going aboard the Coast Guard’s fleet of 75 cutters of varying classes, including high- and medium-endurance cutters and the polar icebreaker fleet. Specifically, the Thales HF-ALE radio system will go on the Sentinel Class fast-response cutters and offshore patrol cutters, as well as other cutter and shore communications acquisition programs that need HF-ALE radios as powerful as 1 kilowatt.

The radios are certified by the Joint Interoperability Test Command, which is the Defense Information Systems Agency’s testing and evaluation organization, and are interoperable with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration standards on HF-ALE. Thales is shifting the production of core components of its shipborne HF communications systems from Thales UK to Thales Communications’ Maryland manufacturing facilities. For more, visit Thales at www.thalescomminc.com.