January 21, 2011:
The U.S. is distributing several thousand new Harris RF-310M handheld radios. While not a battlefield smart phone, the 1.23 kg (2.7 pound), 5 watt radio has a range of up to ten kilometers and is multimode (FM, AM, PSK, CPM, FSK). The radio has a numeric keypad and a small display. The radio is waterproof, has a rechargeable lithium battery, a speaker and GPS. Most importantly, it can handle high-grade encryption and can be programmed to communicate with a wide variety of frequencies and different national radio systems. With the proper access codes, the RF-310M can talk to any NATO ally, the Afghan military and police and civilian organizations. Thus the main purpose of the RF-310M is to increase the ability for many different groups to talk to each other.