The Afghan army finally got equipped with modern radios. For the last three
years, the Afghan troops have been using mostly old Russian radios (for which
few spare parts were available) and some American Vietnam era equipment. The
Afghans have been re-equipped with American commercial radios that are based on
equipment used by the American military. For tactical use, they have several
models of Datron radios that are civilian versions of the U.S. Army AN/PRC 77
platoon radio. This is a 12 pound radio that the operator carries on his back.
Each two pound battery lasts about 30 hours, and there is a hand cranked
generator for recharging the batteries, if no source of electricity is
available. This recharger is an important item for Afghanistan, where most of
the country does not have electricity (except from those flush enough to afford
a generator.) The platoon radios have a range of 5-8 kilometers. The Datron 1070
is a four pound radio used by squads or smaller units and have a range of up to
four kilometers. The truck mounted, or stationary Datron 7000 can reach anywhere
in Afghanistan, and is used by battalion and higher headquarters. These radios
are digital, and can use encryption and other security measures. But in
Afghanistan, the big problem with radios is just keeping them in working order,
especially in the many valleys that interfere with reception.
What the troops would really like are satellite phones, but those are more
expensive than the tactical radios, and involve time charges (usually by the
minute.) Except for a few senior government and military officials, there are no
satellite phones. Before the new military radios were delivered, the only new
equipment were off the shelf walkie-talkies. Motorola hand held radios were very
popular, and still are. Pairs of these Motorola radios will remain in military
use for a long time.
Some $70 million was contributed by the United
States, Britain and other NATO countries to buy the radio equipment, and spare
parts to keep them going for about ten years. The new radios began to arrive
last March, with delivery, and training, completed earlier this year. While many
of the Afghan troops are illiterate, they are mechanically adept and quickly
learn how to use and maintain the new digital radios. The operators learn enough
written language to read the controls on the radios, and the numeric data on the
radio displays.
