The Finnish Defence Forces have taken delivery of the first products of the Tactical Wireless IP Network communication system, it was announced on 18 December. Elektrobit (EB) delivered tactical router and radio head units as part of a deal signed with the Finnish Defence Forces in September 2011 for the deployment of EB's Tactical Wireless IP Network.

The delivery follows the finalisation of factory acceptance tests, where the customer reviewed all military environmental and safety test results and conducted both pre-planned and improvised functionality tests on the delivered products. The products enable the formation of Mobile ad hoc Networks (MANETs) and will be used in harsh environmental conditions for land operations.

Major (engineer) Jari Viuho from the Finnish Army Materiel Command Headquarters, said: ‘The high capacity that the EB Tactical Wireless IP Network provides, significantly improves the army's tactical data throughput and also enables the use of command and control applications for battalion task forces on the move.’

The EB Tactical Wireless IP Network is a stand-alone military/authority wireless broadband network. It enables the formation of high data rate MANET, link and connection networks in any location and is compatible with the existing wired and wireless infrastructures. Based on Software Defined Radio architecture, this product is ‘versatile, upgradeable and easy to adapt’. The company said it has an advanced performance and form factor as both network node and router functionalities are integrated into a single product.

Reima Kettunen, product manager responsible for the EB Tactical Wireless IP Network at EB, said: ‘By combining the capacity of commercial technologies with the extreme military environment requirements, the EB Tactical Wireless IP Network represents a new way of building military communication systems cost effectively.’