The Bundeswehr will soon be equipped with the HRM 9000 HF radio system from German manufacturer Elbit Systems Deutschland.
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Press Release, Ulm, 20 December 2022: [auto-translated] The Bundeswehr will soon be equipped with the HRM 9000 HF radio system, which represents a higher level of this technology than the HRM 7000 predecessor model. With it, the troops receive an advanced solution for long-range communication. The southern German manufacturer Elbit Systems Deutschland develops and produces the core components of the system at the Ulm site, the competence centre for short-wave radio of the international Elbit Group. Testing of the radio by the German Armed Forces has already begun, and delivery to selected areas is scheduled for 2023.
The HRM 9000 type radio systems with a modular structure are national high technology for data and voice radio, encrypted for German levels of secrecy. Their predecessors of the HRM 7000 series, also manufactured in Ulm, were often used in KFOR operations, as well as by long-distance scouts, reconnaissance officers and special forces. Due to the proximity of the components, no modifications to vehicles, carrying systems, etc. need to be made for the HRM 9000 series.
Production in Germany not only ensures a high degree of independence from international supply chains, it also ensures that this key technology can be maintained and further developed in Germany. This in turn ensures that the Bundeswehr has modern HF communications at its disposal.
The new radio systems offer possibilities for the transmission of larger amounts of data (e.g. video material), as well as Blue Force Tracking (localisation of own or friendly units) and a modern encryption of the digital data flow. In addition, they support standard NATO waveforms (e.g. STANAG 4538), i.e. they are compatible with the radio equipment of allied forces in unencrypted open transmission mode, which also operate in this area.
With regard to the resilience of the Bundeswehr, which is constantly being built up, HF radio, with a lower data transmission rate, can serve as a complementary solution for SATCOM applications – a finding that analysts were able to draw from the communication problems during foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr.
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