PUNE: The Indian Army link> is inthe process of procuring High Capacity Radiolink> Relay (HCRR), which providesreliable communication with increased bandwidth in tactical battle area, asenior official of the Ministry of Defencelink> (MoD) toldTOI.

The official said, “The army has already initiated the process in thisregard. A request for information (RFI) has been specified and sent to theglobal manufacturers. We expect the global manufacturers to respond to theRFI before May 3.”

Defence sources said that the defence acquisition councillink> (DAC), thehighest body for military purchases in the MoD, has already sanctioned theplan. “The cost of the purchase would be more than Rs 1,000 crore. Theseadvanced HCRRs will be procured for army and Indian Air Force (IAF),” theofficial added.

Currently, the Army is using purely hardware-based separate high frequency,very high frequency and ultra-high frequency radios, which have little orno data capability.