The TruNet AR-1500 airborne communications system will be installed in the Polish Air Force's C-130H Hercules fleet. The system's dimensions are 250 (L) × 127 (W) × 142 mm (H). (Janes/Kelvin Wong)

Collins Aerospace has been awarded a contract to supply its TruNet AR-1500 networked communications airborne radio system to the Polish Air Force.

According to an announcement by the company on 14 May, the radios will be installed on the force's Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules fleet.

The AR-1500 is a single-channel export version of the ARC-210 radio software-defined radio (SDR) receiver-transmitter, offering country-unique capabilities and legacy waveforms while conforming to the latest SDR tenets and architectures, the company said.

Weighing 5.5 kg, the system is fully interoperable with earlier airborne V/UHF radio variants from Collins Aerospace and other airborne V/UHF radio systems.

The system supports a variety of waveforms, including Have-Quick I/II, Second Generation Anti-Jam Tactical UHF Radio for NATO (SATURN), and Talon I/II. It also features embedded AES-256 encryption protocols and can host indigenously developed crypto.

For more information on the TruNet AR-1500 radio, please seeTruNet AR series networking airborne radio .

A computer-generated imagery (CGI) shows Rafael's new X-Guard RT fitted to the wing of a C-130 transport with its towed decoy retracted. (Rafael Advanced Defense Systems)

Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems announced on 10 May its new X-Guard RT, the latest addition to its X-Guard family of airborne protection systems.

The original X-Guard is housed in a pod that attaches to a hardpoint and releases a towed decoy that protects the aircraft against radar-guided air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles. Janes understands that it does this by emitting a signal that gives the incoming missile an inaccurate location for the aircraft.

Unlike the original X-Guard, which was primarily designed to be carried by fighters, the new RT variant is an ‘independent' system that does not require the aircraft to be fitted with separate onboard electronic warfare (EW) systems that can receive, analyse, and tell the decoy what signal to emit as it can perform these functions by itself, a Rafael executive told Janes.

The DOCK StreamCaster SC4210P is one of three DOCK StreamCaster variants deing developed by Silvus Technologies. (Silvus Technologies )

Networked radio manufacturer Silvus Technologies has unveiled a new family of end-user interface systems for its StreamCaster tactical radios, which will pair the company's mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) radio platforms with advanced edge computing capabilities and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled systems and applications.

A joint venture between Silvus and Washington-based wireless networking company Kägwerks, programme officials have developed three variants of the Dismounted Operator's Combat Kit (DOCK) StreamCaster end-user interface, each mirroring the capabilities of the StreamCaster MANET radio embedded into a specific variant.

The DOCK SC4240P variant, whose 4 W output puts it as the most powerful of the three DOCK systems, “has the same guts as our 4240 StreamCaster radio”, while the two other DOCK variants – the DOCK SL4210P and Ultra 4210P – are all internally modelled after the 1 W 4210 StreamCaster MANET radio, said Jimi Henderson, vice-president of sales at Silvus.

The transmission power differentials are “the main tradeoffs” between the variants, Henderson told Janes