Barrett Communications has denied reports that its advanced 2050 mobile transceivers have been sold to the Myanmar military and are even capable of frequency hopping.
The Perth-based company has faced a barrage of criticism in Australian media that claim the radios have encryption-style frequency-hopping technology that makes it impossible for other organizations to monitor the military's communications. If they did have that technology, they would need an export license from the Department of Defense, a company statement said.
Philip Bradshaw, managing director of Barrett Communications, has "reacted angrily" to the reports, saying that in 2009 and previously in 2005 and 2006, "we sent around 50 radio sets to Burma."
But Bradshaw denied reports that they were sold to the ruling Myanmar military. He said Barrett has sold only commercial radios to the country, formerly called Burma.
"Our company never sold any military equipment to the Burmese regime and never will," Bradshaw said. He noted that Australian companies cannot sell military equipment to the Myanmar army as there are sanctions imposed on Myanmar.
A frequency-hopping radio is capable of sending its signals out "hopping" many times a second across many frequencies within a bandwidth. Unless receivers have a special code to follow in synchronization the hopping pattern, it is impossible to maintain radio contact. This renders the hopping network virtually impossible to intercept or jam. Only the network users who have programmed their radios with the same frequency, sideband and hopping code can communicate.
A report in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper noted that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it understood no radios supplied by Barrett to Myanmar had frequency-hopping or encryption options, which would be included in Australia's ban on export of military goods to the army-ruled nation.
But Australian National University intelligence expert Desmond Ball has claimed that Barrett 2050 radios are being used at a high level by Myanmar army commands and they had both encryption and frequency-hopping functions. ''I have been present when communications using Barrett 2050 transmitters have been received and can assure you they are being used in both encrypted and frequency-hopping modes,'' he said. He also said that it was possible the sets had been sold on by an intermediary to the military and modified after being received in Myanmar. Barrett is set to supply 50 more of the radios, which will have modems for data transmission. However, the company would not disclose the buyer, citing commercial confidence. Some opposition politicians have rounded on Barrett Communications. Green Party Sens. Scott Ludlam and Rachel Siewert said they had information from monitors inside Myanmar that Barrett sold the radios to the military. "I find it unconscionable that we should allow Australian companies to aid and abet this regime's repressive crackdown ahead of the sham 2010 election," Ludlam said in a statement. "The tide is turning against the brutality of Burma's regime and Australia should be leading that chorus, not aiding it with the transfer of vital technology." Various defense news Web sites report that Myanmar is using the radios, whether or not they were sold directly to the regime, often heavily criticized for brutal crackdowns on various ethnic disturbances. A report on Army-technology.com suggests that the radios, weighing around 5 pounds, have a flexible soft-core processor and powerful digital signal processing system that provides very low power consumption, and delivers superior reception and noise reduction. The 2050 switches messages quickly between about 500 frequencies, making them hard for enemy forces to intercept. The new radio sets are being used by the army headquarters in the new capital city of Naypyidaw and also at the army's central, eastern and northeastern commands involved in long-running campaigns against Shan and other insurgent forces. Barrett sells its communications products worldwide, including to the U.S. State Department's Export Control and Related Border Security initiative according to a comment piece on Web site Zimbio. Barrett has also been providing HF radios to U.N. peace keepers for the past five years and is reported to be negotiating another five-year sole-source contract with the U.N. organization. A comment piece on the Zimbio Web site suggested that it remains to be seen "how long the U.N. will continue to buy radios from a company appearing to support just the types of regime it attempts to oppose."
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