Air Force CSEL radio

Boeing has received a $22.7 million U.S. Air Force full-rate production contract for 2,645 additional Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL) communication system radios and support equipment. (Boeing photo)

Boeing has received a $22.7 million U.S. Air Force full-rate production contract for 2,645 additional Combat Survivor Evader Locator communication system radios and support equipment.

Early last year, Boeing received an initial $43.6 million order to deliver 5,053 CSEL hand-held radios and support equipment to the joint services by January 2007. The anticipated total acquisition of as many as 46,000 CSEL radios by the Air Force, Army and Navy could ultimately push the contract’s total value to $250 million. To date, Boeing has delivered more than 8,200 radios to the joint services.

“Demand for CSEL remains strong, especially now that it has been authorized for use in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Michael Bates, Boeing CSEL program manager. “CSEL is accomplishing its mission, which is to ensure our warfighters, should they ever become isolated behind enemy lines, are rescued quickly and safely.”

In March, the U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Persian Gulf region, announced that Boeing’s CSEL communications system has been authorized for use by the joint services now operating in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

CSEL is the U.S. Department of Defense’s program of record for Combat Search and Rescue communications.

Designed for easy use, the multifunction CSEL radio is a cost-effective technological breakthrough that gives U.S. forces a tactical advantage. Unique communication and message encryption techniques prevent signals from being intercepted or decoded. Using communications satellites and global positioning technology, CSEL radios will save lives by providing real-time encrypted information about the precise location of isolated personnel such as downed pilots.

In addition to precise geo-positioning information, the hand-held survival radios provide line-of-sight recovery forces and over-the-horizon joint search and rescue centers with two-way secure data communications capability. CSEL enables rescue forces to authenticate and communicate with isolated personnel in near real-time, anywhere the world. Boeing developed the joint services CSEL system under contract to the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. Currently Boeing maintains CSEL and conducts pre-planned program improvements under contract to the U.S. Air Force Electronics Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.