AN/PRC-148

The MBITR was developed by the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and Thales Communications in the 1990s and went into production in 1994, to address the need for a secure multiband handheld radio.

While the PRC-148 includes US Type 1 capabilities in all versions, the PRC-6809 uses Level III Data Encryption Standard, making it available to police, firefighters, and militaries unable to obtain International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) approval.

[11] MELANIE allows collecting GPS data from user nodes (also in ANDVT - Advanced Narrowband Digital Voice Terminal radio mode) and to provide a robust military interface to connect MBITR to personal computers (or Android tablets).

MELANIE Handheld is able to send its own position over the VHF or SAT network while exchanging data (Chat, File transfer, Video, TR@CER, etc.).

Easily mounted in air, land, or sea vehicles, they provide power amplification for range extension while recharging the installed AN/PRC-148 radios.