RC had the privilege to host the new Chief of the S.A. Army, Lt. Gen L.K. Mbatha on 29 May 2020, introducing him to the 7 000 m2 of production space where 4 manufacturing lines produces over 25 unique products. Mr. A. Mhlongo, Divisional Marketing director (Africa), delivered a presentation on the new generation products explaining that RC is delivering a battle-hardened digital tactical communication solution to the SANDF.
The new generation products consists of a family of software defined radios covering the military VHF, UHF and HF frequency ranges in the form of manpack, vehicle, base station (19” rack installation static) and personal role radios. The family of radios
ensures secure seamless interoperability across all Arms of Service, facilitating joint operations and are backwards compatible to the SANDF’s legacy equipment. A new digital harness system, the Intra-platform Communications System (IPCS) allows secure digital data and voice communications on mobile platforms. The system is also supported by various software applications for network planning and battlefield management tools.
After the factory tour, C Army and his staff members paid a visit to, amongst others, the KZN Reserve Signals Unit and KZN Signals Unit where the new generation family of equipment was on display.
The current legacy equipment in the SANDF is analogue and based on outdated technology as the majority of systems have been in use in for generations and are well beyond their planned end-of-life date. Because of the advancement in technology, the legacy equipment can no longer be effectively supported due to the unavailability of replacement modules and components.
The new generation radios provide a totally new capability to the SANDF. Its digital nature lends itself to seamless communications between the users, while its advanced mission customisation gives great flexibility in terms of structuring communications networks in accordance with the ORBAT. It provides both indigenous unique encryption, new waveforms and anti-jamming capabilities.
