Bowman Radio's

[Tab]

I have just read a report on these £1.9 billion pound radios and it does not make good reading. It starts off by saying that all the radios are far heavier than they should be, the platoon radio is 15 pounds heavier than the Clansman and is three time the weight of the Clansman, also when the power is turned up the operator suffers from radiation burns. Also there are reported problems with size and weight of the vehicle mounted radios. When it was fitted to a Land Rover the axle broke, still the MOD say this is not a problem as they will fit stronger axles, also there are problems in fitting it into the Challenger tanks and the Warrior. The Marines are so worried about it all thay have tried to buy their own radios, but the MOD has blocked this. It looks like it is the old tale 20 years late and still causing problems.

[Laney]

Radiation burns.... and they're still trying to equip units with them?! Bloody hell!

[anglo-saxon]

The Bowman project is being run out of General Dynamics Canada. By all accounts one of the worst-managed, over budget fiascos they have ever had the misfortune to experience, so the negative press re weight/radiation doesn't surprise me at all.

[Guest]

I suppose the only decent thing about them is their role in a warrier or other vehicle, where the platoon/company commander basically plays a game of 'Command and Conquer' and can see every soldier on a computer screen.

But i dont like the idea of radiation burns, and yes, the kit does look very heavy

James

[Dave.Mil]

Challenger tanks

I heard through the grapevine you can't transmit on the move because it interfere,s with the gun control kit, and they have lost the silent watch(no engines running) mode because of power drain. Cracking bit of kit

[Tab]

In todays Daily Telegraph there is further report on the failures of this radio system. It would appear that the Director Of Infantry did not want to accept this radio system due to to faults on it, but they where instructed to accept it for political reasons. They have also been instructed to make the system work, the problem with radiation burns has been overcome by instructing the soldiers that the radio must not be used on full power, which means it cuts down the effective distance that the radio can transmit over. It also appears that once the radio has been given a call sign it is entered electronically and then can't be removed and has that call sign for ever and a day. The signaler has a complicated wiring system to the control panel on his chest so if he goes down the radio just can't be taken off him as the wiring has to disentangled from his webbing and can easily break. The wrist transmitter for for the section commander has now been ditched as it weighs in at some 2 kg and is to heavy to wear. Another problem is that the Bowman uses special batteries which have a shorter life and are hard to obtain. Where as the clansman used AA batteries which could be obtained nearly anywhere. It looks like the Forces have been landed with another pup. You would think if the manufacture can not meet the specifications as agreed that they would be told to sod off, but NO they go ahead and buy the rubbish any way.

[Guest]

Perhaps they are re-living SA80 history with the Bowman...buy the kit, then spend billions more making it better

[AdamR]

Another problem is that the Bowman uses special batteries which have a shorter life and are hard to obtain. Where as the clansman used AA batteries which could be obtained nearly anywhere.

AFAIK the only part of the clansman line which uses AA batteries is the PRR, all the other sets have their own specific batteries.

With regard to the Challenger II and bowman a friend of mine in the KRH who was testing it out in Canada recently said that they were told to switch off the radios when firing because the radio and fire control system didn't work at the same time, no need to fix it. He also said that when using the Land Rover varient nobody should be within 2 metres of the vehicle due to the health hazard. Fortunately they won't be taking it out to Iraq.

To be honest the Clansman line isn't bad, it's not too heavy and very robust, the only problem is secure voice which is something it just doesn't do but then that's why we have BATCO.

Hard to believe that we will be getting landed with Bowman if it's as bad as they say it is.

[stinkypinky]

Adam r,
Batco is so outdated and slow that any battle or contact would probably be over before you get a decent amount of info across.

Also in Iraq at the moment the Troops are using insecure clansman on the lower formation nets.Their is not enough DMU's to go around and comms is a major problem there.

The other system that uses AA batteries is the PRC 349(10 i beleive) .

Bowman is indeed to heavy for a land rover,the army was looking at purchasing G wagons the German army use.

Also looks like we will be stuck with the 432 for the forseable future(even in the light role).

Laughing stock again.

[crafty990]

Bowman does both secure voice and data, thats the whole reason we've got it. It's a bag of sh*t though, vehicle mounted radios can't be used for long without the vehicle running as the battery drains at a premier league rate. Also, we've found that the radios themselves don't talk to each other as they should and we were constantly having to send runners or use PRR (which isnt Bowman BTW). I know my unit are in two minds on whether to deploy on telic VI with it.