Ireland is the latest customer to acquire the SquadNet soldier radio (right) from Thales. The contract also includes Synaps radios, including Synaps-H (left), pictured at Eurosatory 2024. (Janes/Olivia Savage)
The Irish Defence Forces has ordered 6,000 new SquadNet and Synaps radios from Thales.
Announced at the Eurosatory 2024 defence exhibition held in Paris from 17 to 21 June, the procurement involves the provision of over 3,500 SquadNet tactical radios and around 2,500 from the Synaps product family, the company announced on 17 June.
The radios, selected following five months of trials, are being supplied to all the armed forces.
The radios are being delivered in three batches. Batch one has already been completed, while batch two is due in July and batch three before the end of 2024, a Thales spokesperson informed Janes .
Along with SquadNet, which will be primarily used by the army, the company is providing Synaps-H (handheld), Synaps-V (vehicular), and Synaps-A (airborne) radios for use across the army, air force, and navy, the spokesperson added.
For the army, the SquadNet and Synaps will be used in a tiered approach, with soldiers at the lower level who require a more basic capability employing SquadNet, while the Synaps-H radio will be used by commanders. This aims to reduce cost and complexity while still providing a fully capable communications solution, the spokesperson said.
Along with this, the radios will enable specific ‘coalition' waveforms, including the resilient and secure European Secure Software Defined Radio (ESSOR) broadband waveform recently promulgated as a NATO standard, which will facilitate the flow of information between allies during international coalition operations as required, the company said.
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