The US Army has ordered more than 7,000 additional Thales RT-2129 Combat Net Radios (CNR) under a two-vendor, multi-year, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract awarded in March 2022, Thales announced on October 11, 2023.
The initial contract was awarded to both Thales and L3Harris and has a maximum total value of USD 6 billion (EUR 5.69 billion).
CNR is a single-channel voice and data radio that is part of an overall effort to phase out legacy single-channel ground and airborne radio systems (SINCGARS), mounted and dismounted radios in the US Armed Forces.
As a fully software-defined radio (SDR), Thales CNR provides interoperability with the legacy SINCGARS waveform, while allowing the Army to quickly add enhanced waveforms to meet changing requirements. Built around the battle-proven AN/PRC-148 handheld radio family and based on Improved Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radio (IMBITR) technology, Thales CNR provides the US military with a “crypto-modernized tactical radio solution,” Thales said in a press release. The company added that the US Army order demonstrates the service’s “continued confidence in Thales’ ability to deliver next-generation radios for the Army’s network modernization efforts.”
Under the latest award, Thales will supply more than 7,000 radios compliant with the RT-2129 Tactical Secure Voice Crypto Interoperability Standard (TSVCIS).
According to the US Army’s Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T), “CNR-enabled communications will be used for voice transmission of command and control between ground and airborne command and control assets, but will also are used to transmit and receive secure data including location information within a network via radio based situational awareness and will function as a digital data radio.
The CNR IDIQ contract includes a five-year base and an additional five-year option. PEO C3T says the Army “will target its first CNR-equipped unit in 4QFY24/1QFY25, with final delivery in 2030.”
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