GERMANTOWN, Md., Friday, October 9, 2026 – U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has awarded Marconi Technologies an initial contract to supply Orion X604 tactical radios to a U.S. special operations unit. The radios will connect operators to sensors on autonomous systems and with allied forces on shared tactical networks using next generation waveforms. Deliveries are expected to begin in late 2026.
Orion is Marconi’s family of software-defined tactical radios, built for high-throughput, resilient communications in contested environments.
The Orion X604 is the newest member of the Orion family. It brings the frequency agility, dual-channel reconfigurability and waveforms of the Orion X650 into a leader-radio form factor, small enough to also attach or pack onto highly mobile, low-SWaP platforms. The radio supports long-range, low-latency robotic control and high-throughput sensor offload and is designed to hold links under electronic warfare pressure.
“Special operators work at the far edge in small teams, and more of their reach now comes from drones and robotic systems,” said Alain Cohen, CEO of Marconi Technologies. “The X604 gives them higher capacity and lower latency to control those systems, move the sensor data and stay on the network in extremely austere environments. For a small team, that means less to carry and more reach.”
The award follows the selection of the Orion X650 for delivery to the Polish military under the European Union’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument.
