A $5 BILLION programme to build a universal radio to replace the 200-plus types now used by the US military has run into trouble.
The Pentagon鈥檚 ambitious 鈥淛itters鈥� programme, begun in 1997, aims to create a universal communicator that will connect its personnel with one another no matter what frequency or modulation system they use.
But prototypes have fallen short of expectations. No affordable antenna can work over the planned frequency range, which runs from 2 megahertz to 2 gigahertz, without cumbersome power amplifiers, according to a source close to the project. And they need too much computer power to decode multiple radio formats.
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The army has just ordered 100,000 non-Jitters radios, fuelling suggestions that the Defence Acquisition Board is set to severely curtail the project.
