Army says e-commerce-like marketplace for tactical radio capabilities in the works

TECHNET AUGUSTA 2025 — As part of the Army’s radio modernization plan, the service is planning to introduce a new procurement model for tactical radios one officer likened to an e-commerce platform where vendors can display their products for different units to buy depending on their specific needs.

The model, called Common Hardware Software Solutions Tactical Radios (CHESS-TR), is currently in the “concept stage” within the Army Software Factory, according to Maj. Dominic Adams, who serves as a requirements development branch chief in Army Futures Command. But the service hopes to get a requirement draft out through the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System within the “next year to two years,” Col. John Harrell, the capabilities manager of tactical radios in Futures Command, said on the sidelines at the TechNet event here in Augusta.

To get involved in the catalog, industry will have to get their products — which can include hardware, software, maintenance and other lifecycle management — approved to ensure they are compliant with DoD standards, and then there will likely be a contract “like” an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity fed out to vendors who are in the catalog. Then, units will be able to browse the e-catelog for capabilities and order what they need for their missions about a year or two out, Adams said. 

The goal, Harrell said, is to get updated tactical radio network capabilities in the hands of soldiers at a greater speed and scale. 

“One, it’ll create innovation. Two, it’ll give great feedback for you and your organization, or any organization, on what the units are actually looking for and what they’re looking at,” he said during a panel discussion addressing industry. “You can read what other vendors are getting involved [in], and you can now start competing across that. We think that’s really a great, great solution across the board.” 

He said this will provide more flexibility for units, which is important because a unit in Africa, for example, will not have the same tactical network requirements as a unit in Europe or the Indo-Pacific. 

The CHESS-TR is modeled after the Common Hardware Systems program within the service’s Program Executive Office of Command, Control, Communications and Network (PEO C3N), which provides the e-commerce-like model for commercial information technology hardware for tactical and operational requirements.

It will also take “what was good about” the service’s now-killed radio-as-a-service pilot, Harrell said. The service’s as-a-service program was also an initiative to move away from the Army’s outdated processes of buying radios.

The model made it so the Army would treat its new equipment like a subscription — like when companies provide goods or services on a rolling basis while also keeping the products updated. It would have allowed the service to lease the capabilities it needs at the point of need instead of having to procure, sustain and modernize the equipment on its own for each unit and mission. 

But ultimately the pilot ran its course and Adam said “it was on track to probably fail” because it wasn’t feasible for industry. 

But with the new CHESS-TR model, Adams said there will be more oversight from project managers as they will manage the money with the contract, instead of the money being housed within the units. This should, in theory, allow for better cooperation with industry.

“Speed at pace with the development of industry is the idea,” Adams said. “So we’ll see.”