Tait supports Petards’ Royal Air Force Project with its mission critical radio solutions

Vienna, Austria:For the second time this year, Tait Communications, a global leader in the design, delivery and management of critical communication solutions, has been awarded a contract by Petards Group plc (Petards) to provide radio equipment to be used by the Royal Air Force (RAF).

Tait initially supplied 6500 radios as part of a contract awarded to Petards by the Ministry of Defence in late 2013 for the replacement of the RAF's entire current Secure Management Radio Equipment (SMRE) capability.

Last month, Tait shipped an additional 300 radios from its Christchurch-based manufacturing facility under that same contract.

"Tait has a long-standing and proud reputation for providing critical communications solutions to public safety and national security agencies," says Hans van der Linde, Managing Director, Tait Europe, Middle East and Africa.

"Our radio equipment not only offers the key capabilities of open standards technology including spectral efficiency, interoperability, flexibility and security but Tait radios are also engineered to be among the toughest in the market."

The Petards contract is for P25 trunked portable and mobile radios, with the latter being used as fixed stations in vehicles and as tactical deployable units.

The project is being managed through Tait Communications' Europe-Middle East-Africa organisation, which is providing system build configuration, integration and deployment services to Petards.

The RAF's SMRE allows Air Traffic Control to direct the safe movement of vehicles and personnel on the airfield manoeuvring area at RAF bases across the UK. It is also used in a secondary role to provide direct communication between Air Traffic Control and those in an airfield support role such as guards, medical personnel, re-fueling and fire crews.