Airservices picks Northrop Grumman for VHF IP radios

A British subsidiary of American defence giant Northrop Grumman has been selected to provide VHF band voice over internet protocol (VoIP) radios for Airservices Australia.

Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems has signed a deed of standing offer to deliver its T6 radio over five yers.

The radios will integrate with the ambitious OneSKY air traffic management overhaul, which despite criticism of poor performance from its main vendor, Thales, was recently pulled off the troubled projects list by former defence minister Marise Payne.

Park Air's T6 VHF radios support VoIP to the ED137 interoperability standard and have small form factor and low maintenance requirements. 

Airservices Australia already use Park Air's R4 remote control and monitoring system, with the UK company's MARC server.

The value of the contract was not disclosed.