Army looking for two-channel Leader Radio solution

By Jaspreet Gill / January 17, 2020 at 12:32 PM

The Army is asking industry to provide a two-channel radio solution that meets the requirements for the service's Leader Radio.

The Leader Radio, under the product manager for Handheld, Manpack and Small Form Fit, provides team, squad and platoon leaders with interoperable voice communications. The radio uses the Tactical Scalable Mobile, or TSM, waveform and the Single Channel Ground and Airborne System, or SINCGARS.

A Jan. 10 Army notice states the service is looking for a single radio solution that offers two operational channels in one handheld unit; one that provides a SINCGARS waveform service at a Secret level and another that provides "TrellisWare Technologies, Inc. networking TSM-6 TM Waveform services at the Sensitive but Unclassified level."

The notice states the Leader Radio will be fielded in both handheld and mounted configurations, which will use a common receiver transmitter.

Army spokesman Paul Mehney told Inside Defense in an email the notice was released "as part of standard annual business to conduct market research to support a potential third Low-Rate Initial Production delivery order" for the radios. If a third LRIP is approved, the service plans to execute a delivery order in fiscal year 2020, he added. 

Last September, Harris and Thales Defense both received awards to start low-rate initial production on the Leader Radio with a 10-year, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract.

Responses are due Jan. 30.

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