Netherlands to acquire new portable radios

The AN/PRC-163 two-channel radio will be procured for the Dutch armed forces as part of a wider communications programme known as Foxtrot that seeks to develop an agile interoperable land force supported with secure communications. (Harris Corp)

The Netherlands will replace all of its existing portable ground-to-air radios as part of the broader EUR1.5 billion (USD1.6 billion) 10-year Foxtrot tactical communications programme.

The project, known as the ‘Replacement of Ground-Air Radios', will involve acquiring L3Harris Technologies Falcon III AN/PRC-117G and AN/PRC-163 radios, replacing existing AN/PRC-117F and AN/PRC-152 systems that have been in service with the armed forces since 2002, the Dutch Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 25 May.

A number of AN/PRC-167 radios integrated into specific vehicles will also be purchased.

A total of 1,200 new radios will be acquired with up to EUR250 million allocated for the programme, the MoD said.

The AN/PRC-163 is a multichannel radio that supports secure two-channel, simultaneous up-and-down echelon connectivity and redundancy in a handheld form factor. The system can be used for combinations of satellite communications (satcom), very-high-frequency (VHF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF) line-of-sight (LOS) and mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) applications, including signals-based threat warning/situational awareness (SBTW/SA) and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) video receiving.

The Falcon III AN/PRC-117G is a single-channel multiband radio, operating on VHF/UHF/L-band that supports beyond LOS communications with simultaneous voice and data transmission.