BAE Systems the First to use Motorola Solutions MOTOTRBO Communications in Submarines

The company has been commissioned to install a Motorola Mototrbo Capacity Max system at BAE Systems' Submarines business at Barrow-in-Furness. Featuring end-to-end encryption, the new digital trunked system will further enhance communication at the site whose operations include manufacture of Astute class submarines for the Ministry of Defence.

The system is the first deployment worldwide of the Capacity Max solution which will offer BAE Systems Submarines site-wide improvements in operating coverage and clearer transmissions.

The contract is the latest in a line secured by Pennine from BAE Systems with the company also having installed the previous analogue system used by employees on the Barrow site.

Commenting on the decision to award the contract to Pennine, BAE Systems Submarines’ Security Controller, Dave John, said: “Pennine is a known and trusted supplier to BAE Systems and through the company’s strong relationship with Motorola was also able to give us access to the very latest, most secure and resilient two-way radio solution.

“The system’s encryption standards are to governmental level which is clearly important to a business like ours, as is its multi-level resiliency. It is also set to provide significantly clearer audio communications across site.”

Pennine Telecom’s Managing Director, Andrew Roberts, said the new contract, which includes a three-year maintenance agreement, further underlined the company’s pre-eminent position in UK two-way radio communications.

“The fact that BAE Systems have again selected Pennine to upgrade their two-way radio communications speaks volumes about the trust they have in us and the expertise we have to offer in what is a highly specialised field. Equally it is a great privilege to be working with Motorola on implementation of the first Capacity Max solution anywhere in the world. This is a system which sets new standards in terms or security, reliability, quality of communication and scalability and will undoubtedly have a massive impact on the global marketplace.”

The launch of Capacity Max was announced by Motorola last November with Tim Clark, Sales Channel Products and Programs Director, reporting that the technology “builds upon our innovative MOTOTRBO digital two-way radio solutions to deliver enhanced capability and expanded capacity. The rich feature set and increased resilience equips our customers with dependable, mission-critical mobile communications.”

Among benefits it offers are optional end-to-end advanced encryption standard (AES) security to the highest standard available. All subscribers can be securely authenticated through physical serial numbers, identities and keys with system administrators able to enable and disable their access remotely, as well as place controls on communications.

Capacity Max also offers in-built and optional resiliency features with the control channel automatically rolling over to a repeater on failure, non-geographically dependent redundant server and the ability for sites to operate autonomously if no controller is available.

Other features offered by the system include GPS tracking, active lone worker monitoring, job ticketing, over the air subscriber reprogramming and real-time rf coverage monitoring. In addition the solution is highly scalable being able to serve up to 3,000 users on each of as many of 15 sites.