Finnish forces contract Bittium for new radios

Bittium's Tough SDR Vehicular. (Bittium)

As part of its ongoing tactical communications upgrade, the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) has begun serial procurement of Bittium's software defined radios (SDRs) – the Tough SDR handheld and vehicular models – the company said in a press release on 5 November.

The Tough SDR vehicular and handheld models are expected to replace the existing analog tactical radios of the FDF and are to be integrated with the Finnish Army's M18 command, control, communications, computers, and cyber (C5) system architecture (the acronym 18 is because by 2018 all Finnish Army troops deployed the system).

A Bittium spokesperson told Janes that the radios “offer frequency agility and less interference and allow user organisations to have sovereign control over the radios. Interoperability is offered through the different waveforms like the Bittium Tactical Wireless [TAC WIN] Waveform that offers IP MANET [internet protocol mobile ad hoc network] and connectivity with the Bittium TAC WIN IP Network that the Finnish Army uses as the mobile backbone network that is part of their M18 C5 system entity. The NATO-standardised ESSOR [European Secure Software Defined Radio] High Data Rate Waveform, jointly developed by the a4ESSOR [Alliance for ESSOR] consortium, offers interoperability in coalition operations between different national troops”.

The serial procurement will extend across all branches of the FDF, including subordinate establishments operating under Defence Command. The radios are a centralised procurement and will not be separately purchased by the different military branches, Bittium said.