A Radio Success Story

At a press briefing yesterday on Army acquisition reform and the need to speed up programs that take way too long to field, Thomas Hawley, deputy undersecretary of the Army, conceded that the Joint Tactical Radio System program has "been around a long time [and is] too ambitious."

But Hawley said JTRS program -- which kicked off in 1999 -- is a good idea and is on the cusp of delivering real capabilities for soldiers.

He said the two-and-a-half-pound hand-held JTRS Rifleman Radio developed by General Dynamics is a "real success story" so far in tests at the Army's Network Integration Evaluation exercise this summer at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

The Rifleman Radio, designed for intersquad communications, has a range of about a mile and, besides voice communications, also automatically locates a soldier's position with a built-in GPS receiver.

I look forward to test driving a Rifleman Radio on my next trip to White Sands this October.