MoD inks £231m deal to boost comms

The Ministry of Defence has awarded two comms contracts worth a total of £231m to General Dynamics UK.

The deals cover upgrading the UK Armed Forces' Bowman digital radios comms system and improving interoperability with other UK and Allied systems.

The MoD said the first contract, worth £119m, will update and refresh the system's capabilities over its lifetime to reflect tech advances. The second deal, worth £112, is for support, including repair, field services and the provision of spare parts.

The Bowman radios have been used in MoD operations since 2005 and are integrated into more than 13,000 British Army vehicles, together with headquarters, ships and helicopters, according to the MoD.

Back in 2007, the comms system was criticised for being outdated, too heavy for troops to carry and ineffective in preventing 'friendly fire' accidents - after the system capabilities set out in the original contract had to be scaled back and several key features removed to enable the rest of the rollout to be completed on time.