At a ceremony on 20 February 2019 at the 2019 Aero India defense exhibition in Bengaluru, India, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems CEO, Major General (ret.) Yoav Har-Even, presented Chief Operations Officer of Astra Rafael COMSYS PVT LTD (ARC), Brigadier Ravi Hariharan with a $30 million purchase order for the manufacture, test-before-integration, and lifecycle support management for a complete set of the BNet Software Defined Radio (SDR) system for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
This order is the first contract for ARC, the joint venture between Rafael and India’s Astra Microwave Products Ltd.
In late 2017, Rafael was awarded a contract to supply BNet SDRs to the IAF. ARC will manufacture and integrate these advanced radio systems onboard IAF aircraft, allowing for the digital exchange of tactical information. As a force multiplier, the systems will enable IAF pilots to engage the enemy beyond visual range, without being detected by their on-board sensors.
Acquired by both the Brazilian and Colombian Air Forces, the BNet carries the an airborne V/UHF tactical handle L-band (1-2 GHz) communications datalink (TDL) to support air operations. This radio was also acquired by the Israeli Air Force. The radio can include transmit data rates of up to 2mbps and 10mbps transmit with reception speeds of 100mbps and 500 megabits per second.