Amid buzz about software-defined radio, conventional SINCGARS still chugging along
June 13, 2007
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., 13 June 2007. The buzz in the communications industry these days most often involves software-defined radio (SDR) -- an all-digital approach to military and civil RF communications to enable networked users to exchange voice and data over an extremely broad spectrum of frequencies.
Mature radios with what today is considered to be conventional technology do not receive much press. SDR -- despite setbacks in the marquee U.S. military Joint Tactical Radio System project -- has captured the popular imagination.
Under the radar, however, the 1980s-vintage Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) is quietly moving along, with no end in sight for this durable frequency-hopping voice and data communications systems.
SINCGARS developer and primary manufacturer ITT Corp. in White Plains, N.Y., announced a couple of days ago that its assembly lines have completed the company's 350,000th SINCGARS, making the radio the most widely deployed combat radio in the world, ITT officials say.
At the request of the U.S. Army, ITT has ramped up its SINCGARS production capacity six-fold over a 20-month period without even one missed shipment, ITT officials say, adding that the company is ready to increase radio deliveries.
"We are fully equipped to meet all of the Government's requirements for rapid fielding of reliable, high-quality SINCGARS radios," says Lou Dollive, president and general manager of ITT's Aerospace/Communications Division.
SINCGARS provides a secure voice and data communication system, enabling troops to conduct military operations in all weather and terrain environments. Because of its information routing capabilities, SINCGARS, at least for the moment, is often called the "heart of the U.S. Army's Tactical Internet," ITT officials say.
For more information contact ITT online at www.itt.com.
