General Dynamics C4 Systems has been awarded a $23 M contract for AN/USC-61(C) Digital Modular Radios (DMR), the Navy’s standard communication system for newly constructed ships and submarines. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in mid-2009 and continue through 2010. General Dynamics C4 Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics. The software-defined DMRs communicate with Ultra-High Frequency SATCOM, Single-Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems (SINCGARS), Line of Sight and High Frequency radios on Navy surface and subsurface platforms.
General Dynamics has delivered more than 370 DMRs for use throughout the fleet and Navy shore sites, enabling secure short-range and global communications using US military standard waveforms. “By replacing what used to be racks of radios and encryption equipment, one DMR radio represents considerable savings in size, weight and power to the Navy,” said Chris Brady, vice president of Assured Communications for General Dynamics C4 Systems. “The expertise we have gained from successfully executing on the DMR is particularly relevant now as we work with Lockheed Martin in the development of the Airborne and Maritime/Fixed Station component of the Joint Tactical Radio System.”
In March 2008, General Dynamics received a contract to develop and integrate the maritime and fixed-site joint tactical radio capabilities and provide information assurance services for the Lockheed Martin Airborne, Maritime and Fixed Site (AMF) Joint Tactical Radio System team. General Dynamics C4 Systems delivered the first Digital Modular Radio to the Navy in 1998; it was one of the first software-defined radios to be delivered under contract to the US military. In October 2004, the radio became the first software-defined radio certified by the National Security Agency for communications up to the Top Secret level. The DMR contracting office is the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, working on behalf of the Program Executive Office for Command Control Communications Computers and Intelligence, San Diego, CA.