The AN/PRC-148 Radio is a hand carried Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radio (MBITR) used by the U.S. Military and numerous countries around the globe. Thales Defense & Security, Inc. (TDSI) a subsidiary of Thales Group is a French multinational company. Thales originally produced the PRC-148 Radio for USSOCOM under the name Racal Communications, Inc.
The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) awarded the 1st production contract for MBITR radio to Thales. One of the early contracts we found was posted on December 18, 2002 for production of the AN/PRC-148 Radio it was for 30,000 radios under contract number USZA22-97-D-0019 awarded to Thales, formerly known as Racal Communications, Inc. (RCI). Thales has continued with production since then.
The AN/PRC-148 MBITR Radio, its batteries and accessories are big business due to the fact of how long they have been produced and used by so many countries. Newer versions such as the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Enhanced MBITR (JEM) have been introduced.
Most military products evolve over time with continuous improvements resulting in new versions and upgrades to a single product. Part of this improvement process is solicitations are posted to seek out new incumbents or alternate suppliers. Recently there have been several open solicitations for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used with the MBITR AN/PRC-148 Radio.
The AN/PRC-148 hand held Radio uses a few different types of batteries, one of the most expensive is a rechargeable lithium-Ion battery costing over $500.00 each. Recent sales of both NSN 6140-01-487-1153 and 6140-01-642-6920 have been awarded to Thales Defense & Security, Inc. NSN 6140-01-642-6920, Thales part number 1600842-1 is the more expensive of the two. The Department of Defense orders both of these rechargeable lithium-Ion batteries on a regular basis.
Defense Study on cost of batteries used in Military hand held radios
In 2012 the Defense Standardization Program Office posted the results of a study that compared the cost of batteries used in hand held radios. It showed the AN/PRC-148 MBITR battery was about 50% more costly than the AN/PRQ-7 Combat Survivor Evader Locater (CSEL) battery.
The AN/PRC-148 and AN/PRQ-7 rechargeable battery packs are very similar in function, size, and voltage. Both the AN/PRC-148 and the AN/PRQ-7 use 6 lithium ion 18650 type batteries.
The AN/PRQ-7 battery is somewhat competitive whereas the AN/PRC-148 battery packs supplied by Thales are proprietary. One main difference among the battery packs was the physical interface to the radios and chargers.
DOD Battery Sales
Selling Batteries to the Defense Department is great business as DOD uses many types of batteries, have short shelf lives and buy a lot of them.
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