May 2, 2006:
After years of seeing the troops buy civilian walkie-talkies (often the Motorola Talkabout), the U.S. Marine Corps has arranged for Motorola to produce 60,000 militarized versions. These will cost about $1,300 each. That's more than three times what the civilian versions cost, but is competitive with most other military grade radios of this type. The main cause of the higher price is the addition of encryption, so that the enemy can't listen in.
Two years ago, the marines bought a thousand Personal Role Radios (PRR) used by British troops since early 2002. These first saw combat use in Afghanistan later that year. The $670 radio set allows infantry to communicate with each other up to 500 meters (or three floors inside a building). The earpiece and microphone are built to fit comfortably into the combat helmet. The radio set itself, about the size and weight of a portable cassette player, hangs off the webbing gear on the chest. Two AA batteries power the radio for 24 hours. The users have 16 channels to choose from and a form of frequency hopping is used to make it very difficult to listen in on transmissions. A small, wireless, "talk" button is affixed to the soldiers weapon so that operation of the radio is hands free. The British have since adopted an improved, and more expensive, version.
Marines have been asking for such personal radios for nearly a decade, and this need was documented in several studies. The appearance, and excellent performance, of the British PRR, contributed to marines and army soldiers buying their own Motorola radios. That finally pushed the Department of Defense to give the troops the same capability they have long had in the video games they often play when off duty. The Motorola Integrated Intra Squad Radios (IISR) will have similar capabilities to the British PRR, and will be delivered over the next five years.
The idea of a radio for each infantryman was part of the plan for the futuristic 21st century combat uniforms. These were to be ready in another decade or so, but the war speeded that up. The future system was also to include a computer link (like wi-fi for laptops and PDAs). The next generation of infantry radios will handle this, and these will probably be in use before the end of the decade.
