South Africa arms public safety with Airbus radios

The South African wine region of Stellenbosch and its municipal area is going to equip its public safety personnel with mission-critical radio terminals from Airbus Defence and Space.

In the near future, police officers and firefighters will carry robust and simple-to-use devices to communicate more safely and efficiently in an area of about 830 km².

Under the order, Airbus Defence and Space will provide over the next five years P8GR pagers as well as TH1n, THR9 Ex and THR880i model radios.

“The end user finally opted for our devices because of their quality, size and ruggedness,” said Markus Kolland, head of sales for Europe and Africa of Secure Land Communications, Airbus Defence and Space.

“In addition, Stellenbosch’s order is important for us as Africa is the future continent for secure professional mobile radio technology.”

Stellenbosch’s administration has chosen different Tetra terminals for each public safety service.

Fire brigades will use the P8GR and THR9 Ex, the traffic police will operate the TH1n, while the cleaning department has decided on the THR880i.

Airbus Defence and Space said the Tetra P8GR paging device has been designed to meet the needs of fire brigades, relief organisations and also critical infrastructure operators, which, in contrast to standard analog paging devices, enables secure two-way communication between the control centre and operational unit. It also offers notable Tetra features for alerting, such as group calls.

According to the company, the slimline Tetra radio TH1n which will be used by traffic police is the thinnest and lightest Tetra terminal in the world, while the robust THR9 Ex offers personnel protection against physical and environmental exposure in explosion-prone environments.

Image caption: The Airbus TH1n radio and P8GR pager, courtesy of Airbus Defence and Space.