Armada’s monthly roundup of all the latest news in the military communications product, programme and operational domains.
Bittium and Indra Collaborate
As 2025 was drawing to a close, Bittium revealed it had signed a licencing agreement with Indra. According to a press release announcing the news, the licencing agreement is worth $58 million. The two companies had already concluded an agreement of intent to collaborate in July 2025. This latter agreement covered the collaboration by both companies in developing Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology. Since then, Bittium has transferred its Tough SDR product knowhow to Indra. The transfer will help Indra develop and manufacture tactical radios which will initially equip the Spanish armed forces. The press release noted that options may exist for Indra to export these transceivers to other countries in the future. According to a statement provided to Armada by Bittium, the company “is licensing its software defined radio technology that is used for the Bittium Tough SDR product family, including Bittium Tough SDR vehicular and handheld radios”. Indra’s products will be based on this technology and should yield “sovereign, high-performance handheld, vehicular, and (backpack) radios” in the coming years.
Curtiss-Wright bags new PacStar order
In late December 2025, Curtiss-Wright announced that it had been awarded a contract worth $18 million to provide several of the company’s PacStar tactical communications systems to the United States Marine Corps (USMC). According to reports, the contract covers the provision of Curtiss-Wright’s PacStar 451 server, PacStar 453 GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) enhanced server and PacStar 448 ten-port, ten-gigabit ethernet switch modules. The order was made by the USMC’s Programme Executive Office for Land Systems. Roark McDonald, general manager of PacStar for Curtiss-Wright’s defence solutions division, told Armada that the recent contract “builds upon (the company’s) earlier selection as a trusted and critical supplier to the (USMC’s) Combat Data Network programme”. The company declined to provide details of how many PacStar systems it was delivering as per this recent contract, or how the USMC may use these products. Nonetheless, Mr. McDonald did add that that these systems are “designed to meet mission requirements across operational environments”. He added that the company can “scale to meet the potential future needs of the Marine Corps as well as other customers requiring battlefield networking and connectivity”.
by Dr. Thomas Withington
