Ukraine comms struggles spur European hunger for L3Harris radios

The urgent need for secure communications in the Russia-Ukraine war is drumming up new levels of interest in L3Harris Technologies equipment among European militaries, according to the defense contractor.

More than 30,000 of the company’s radios and accessories have been shipped to the front lines, with much of the gear tied to handheld communication and coordination aboard vehicles. The U.S. has highlighted secure data-sharing devices in its pledges to Ukraine , at this point totaling approximately $44 billion.

Samir Mehta, the president of communications systems at L3Harris, on May 1 told reporters in Washington the company is seeing “unprecedented demand among our NATO partners and allies for secure, resilient, tactical communications.” Close to $1 billion of business is on the books.

“I think one only needs to look at a map to understand exactly what is driving that demand,” said Mehta, who spent the previous week meeting with officials in the Czech Republic and Poland , among other locations. “If you can’t communicate, you can fight but you can’t win.”

Reliable, low-profile means of relaying battlefield information have become a linchpin for fighting in Eastern Europe, where drones saturate the skies and sensors cue onto even the smallest electronic signal.

U.S. defense leaders have long warned of the risks of using unencrypted or rudimentary tools , citing the ease at which they can be traced, targeted and shot.

“If they’re not armed with the right equipment, the enemy will use transmissions, scanning the electromagnetic spectrum, to be able to find, locate and kill you any time you try to communicate,” Mehta said. “Every time that you take your non-high-assurance communication device out, whether it be a cell phone, whether it be Starlink, and use it to communicate, you are sending an emission that allows the Russians to find out exactly where you are.”

Indiscriminate cell phone use has been blamed for casualties on both sides of the war. Russian forces likely bombarded a Ukrainian base housing foreign fighters after detecting devices with British country codes, the London-based Telegraph reported . Dozens were killed in the strike.

“They’ve had too many unfortunate incidents where that happened,” Mehta said, “which is why they’ve adopted our technology and our radios as their primary communication device.”

L3Harris is the ninth largest contractor in world when ranked by defense-related revenue, reaping nearly $14 billion in 2022, according to Defense News Top 100 analysis.

The U.S. Army tapped the company years ago for its combat net radio endeavor worth up to $6 billion. An initial order was valued at $20 million.

Colin Demarest was a reporter at C4ISRNET, where he covered military networks, cyber and IT. Colin had previously covered the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration — namely Cold War cleanup and nuclear weapons development — for a daily newspaper in South Carolina. Colin is also an award-winning photographer.

据这家国防承包商称，俄乌战争中对安全通信的迫切需求，正在激发欧洲各国军队对 L3Harris Technologies 设备的新一轮兴趣。

该公司已向一线运送了超过3万台无线电台及配件，其中大部分装备用于车载手持通信和协调。美国在其对乌克兰的援助承诺中重点强调了安全数据共享设备，目前总额约为440亿美元。

L3Harris通信系统总裁萨米尔·梅塔5月1日在华盛顿告诉记者，该公司“北约伙伴和盟友对安全、可靠、战术通信的需求空前高涨”。目前已签订的合同金额接近10亿美元。

“我认为只要看看地图就能明白是什么在推动这种需求，”梅塔说道。他上周与捷克共和国和波兰等地的官员会面。“如果不能沟通，你只能打仗，而不能赢。”

在东欧，无人机充斥着天空，传感器甚至能捕捉到最微小的电子信号，可靠、低调的战场信息传递方式已成为战争的关键。

美国国防领导人长期以来一直警告使用未加密或简陋工具的风险，并指出这些工具很容易被追踪、锁定和攻击。

梅塔说：“如果敌人没有配备合适的设备，他们就会利用电磁频谱扫描和传输，在你每次试图通信时都能找到你、定位你并杀死你。每次你拿出非高可靠性通信设备，无论是手机还是星链，并用它来通信时，你都会发出电磁辐射，让俄罗斯人能够准确掌握你的位置。”

战争双方的伤亡都归咎于滥用手机。据伦敦《每日电讯报》报道，俄罗斯军队在探测到带有英国国家代码的设备后，可能轰炸了一个驻扎着外国武装人员的乌克兰基地。此次袭击造成数十人死亡。

“他们发生过太多不幸的事件，”梅塔说，“这就是为什么他们采用我们的技术和无线电作为他们的主要通信设备的原因。”

根据《防务新闻》百强分析，L3Harris 是全球第九大国防相关收入承包商，2022 年收入近 140 亿美元。

多年前，美国陆军就已选定该公司参与其价值高达60亿美元的作战网络无线电项目。首笔订单价值2000万美元。

科林·德马雷斯特曾是C4ISRNET的记者，负责报道军事网络、网络安全和信息技术方面的新闻。此前，他曾为南卡罗来纳州的一家日报报道美国能源部及其下属的国家核安全管理局，主要关注冷战后的清理工作和核武器研发。科林还是一位屡获殊荣的摄影师。