Army Radios Get Low Marks From DOTE

[unhappycamper]

http://breakingdefense.com/2014/01/army-radios-get-low-marks-from-dote/



Army Radios Get Low Marks From DOTE
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
on January 29, 2014 at 7:35 PM

From handheld radios to high-tech headquarters, the Army’s top priority is what it calls the network. That’s not one project but a whole array of programs, each complex on its own. They all are supposed to interconnect so it’s no surprise that the Pentagon’s top tester has found plenty of problems. What is surprising in today’s report from the Director of Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E) is that the Army is having the most trouble with the simplest systems, the portable radios.

We’ve written before about the three-sided struggle between the Army, the incumbent contractors, and upstart firms over portable radios. It’s a saga that’s included secretive lobbying campaigns and a personal apology by a top General Dynamics executive. What DOT&E tells us is that the radios themselves still aren’t working as they should.

There are two kinds of radios, each being built by two contractors under what are technically “low-rate initial production” (LRIP) contracts, with “full and open competition” still to come. One is the handheld Rifleman Radio, built by General Dynamics and Thales; the other is the larger Manpack Radio, so called because it fits in a backpack, built by GD and Rockwell Collins.

“The Manpack radio has not yet demonstrated improvements in a realistic operational test environment,” DOT&E says scathingly. After an early 2012 test found the Manpack “not operationally effective” — DOT&E’s lowest grade — a second test that year found it had showed some improvement but that “it continued to exhibit poor reliability.” (Pro tip: If your cell phone dies during an important business call, that’s annoying. If your radio dies during a battle, that’s potentially lethal).



unhappycamper comment: Too bad we can't buy something that actually works as specified.

[tech3149]

1. I read a statement from a retired general years ago

He spent most of his career in procurement and as such I expect he should know.
The gist was that we haven't gotten our moneys worth on any military expenditure since the 50's. We were either oversold, underserved, or overpriced. For the most part I would agree, with the exception of the A-10, the one worthwhile thing that was worth more than any stealth fighters or multi-mission combat vehicle that does no job well.

[Victor_c3]

2. When I was deployed to Iraq in 2004, for most intra-platoon communication we bought our own

handheld radios like the ones you can buy from Walmart or whatever for $50 or less. They used AA batteries and had either 20 or 40 channels. They had a range of at least 1/2 a mile to a mile and were quick and easy to use. Every team leader had a handheld radio.

The down side is they weren't secure and we did occasionally find similar radios on people we detained so our communications were absolutely being monitored by opposition forces.