Military PDA costs $18 million

19 August 2005

General Dynamics C4 Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, has been awarded an $18 million contract by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to design and develop a mobile telephone/personal digital assistant.

The Secure PDA Phone will provide secure voice and data communications, including e-mail, web access, and file viewing.

The award is part of the Secure Mobile Environment (SME) program, which calls for a single device for government users requiring "Type I" security that also provides wireless access to the government's Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) for secure web-browsing and messaging.

The Secure PDA Phone will operate via existing commercial cellular networks and will have a modular architecture so that it can connect to an array of wireless protocols such as the Global System for Mobile Communications and Code Division Multiple Access.

It will also interface with the US Department of Defense’s Public Key Infrastructure using the government's standard Common Access Card as well as work with General Dynamics' Sectera Wireline Terminal and Sectera Secure Wireless Phone for GSM.

Delivery of the first Secure PDA Phone is expected in the second quarter of 2007.

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