Bracer™

Bracer sets the standard in secure commercial satellite communication.

Designed for discretion and engineered to operate in the planet’s harshest environments, it is the most robust, effective and reliable commercial TacSat in the market.

Powered by Iridium satellite technology, the 100% BLOS, Push-To-Talk device keeps you connected through a highly-resilient network, while end-to-end encryption protects your information and allows you to operate without constraints. Encrypted GPS-based position location information offers real-time situational awareness and supports rapid decision-making.

Bracer is the ideal choice for the often-neglected contingency and emergency components of PACE plans, offering reliable communications and situational awareness when primary and alternate communication technologies fail.

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Bracer™: Secure satcom for assured PACE communications

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Bracer whitepaper cover

Whitepaper

Assured tactical communications for dynamic operations

Download our latest white paper to explore how Bracer™ strengthens operational resilience across defence, security, and emergency environments.

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Bracer Product Updates

  • Standard Iridium Satellite Telephony – Through a Bracer™ firmware upgrade users will enable the option to switch from the PTT service to satellite telephony. It takes approximately 5 seconds to switch service and requires an Iridium SIM card. This is the standard Iridium telephony service giving access to phone calls within Iridium, other satellite constellations, GSM and fixed infrastructure networks. Telephony adds additional functionality into a users PACE plan and reduces the requirement to carry an additional satellite phone.
  • Standard Iridium Dial Up Data Service – In line with the telephony access users can access a 2.4Kbs dial up data service.
  • Bracer™ Android Application – QinetiQ has developed the Bracer™ Android Application for viewing Position Location Information feeds received through the Bracer handset. The Android Device can work standalone and does not need to be connected to the internet or a LAN/WAN to receive the feeds. These can then be ingested into a third-party GIS mapping system such as ATAK.

Interoperability Update: Bracer™ has now been proven to be Plug and Play with the following products:

  • Resilience Tactical Voice Bridge (TVB). Device used to interconnect different radio systems at the voice level.
  • Base Camp Connect Voice Bridge Products. Devices used to interconnect different radio systems at the voice level.
  • WinTAK/ATAK/CivTAK. Ingest of Bracer™ PLI into the TAK software products.
  • Glenair STAR-PAN™ Integrated Soldier Multiport USB Data Hub. Glenair has developed a new lead for Bracer™ to reduce SWaP.
  • Invisio Audio Ancillaries – Invisio has developed a new lead for Bracer™ to reduce SWaP.

Benefits

  • Extreme resilience. Guaranteed performance in the planet’s harshest environments, across land, sea and air.
  • Superior security. End-to-end encryption ensures team communications remain secure and information stays safe.
  • High availability. 100% Beyond Line Of Sight capability keeps global teams connected, wherever they are.
  • Third party integration. Universally interoperable with a range of covert, discreet and overt audio ancillaries.
  • Compact carrying. Optimised Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) ratio means it can be deployed easily.
  • Instant C2. Configure global coverage in seconds, so that when time is of the essence securing communication lines is simple.
  • Affordability without compromise. Elite functionality at a fraction of the cost of military alternatives.
  • Real-time situational awareness. GPS-based position location information offers real-time situational awareness and supports rapid decision-making.

Use cases

Bracer sets the standard in secure commercial satellite communication. Combining user-controlled end-to-end encryption with global satellite coverage, it is the most robust, effective and reliable commercial TacSat in the market.

When applied to the PACE methodology, the system can be employed across all aspects of PACE to either provide Primary communications or as an instant failover to the other systems. It can also be employed to complement Primary and Alternate systems as part of link engineering, whilst providing situational awareness in the background, enhancing capability.

Primary. The primary means of communication is usually a robust, high grade encrypted digitised military system that operates within the VHF/UHF frequency band.

Alternate. If the primary system fails then the user is required to switch to the alternate system which is likely to be based on a complex and high grade encrypted system, which is part of a wider Combat Net Radio programme. The user will usually experience some loss in capability when using the alternate system.

Contingency. Due to budget constraints, this gap area is often masked by the use of mobile phones, which cannot be relied upon in the operational domain as it is neither reliable nor secure.

Emergency. As with Contingency solutions, little investment is given to Emergency systems and the available technology’s capability has dropped significantly from the primary system.

Responsive, reliable, simple and secure, Bracer increases reactiveness, enhances situational awareness and passage of information, improving the ability to prosecute effective Command and Control and can increase the speed of the decision making cycle. Bracer is the ultimate PACE solution that seamlessly bridges the gap across the Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency requirements delivering secure voice, data and positional location reporting.

Providing Command, Control and Coordination in support of Border Force Protection is a complex task.

Security Forces face the challenge of communicating in all types of environments (land, air, maritime, mountainous and urban). The distances can be extensive and often go through areas where it is uneconomical or unfeasible to be support by terrestrial infrastructure. Bracer Secure Satellite Push-to-Talk system provides a simple solution that can complement existing radio systems or become the primary capability in its own right.

Bracer has in built end to end encrypted (FIPS 140-2 Level 3) position location reporting that is received by all handsets within a Talkgroup. This powerful capability tracks handsets at approximately 500ms from the point of transmission to point of receipt. Each handset can push its position reports with every voice call, a waypoint option or if the device moves more than 500m/1000m/2000m from its last report location (depending on user selected setting). It also has a pull function where a handset can request Position Reports immediately from other handsets within the Talkgroup or be set up to pull at periodic intervals.

Unlike many other tracking systems there is no back-end infrastructure requirement and the information is received directly from the Bracer Handset. This reduces latency with receiving reports and negates the requirement for a secondary bearer system to link into a separate network.

Bracer delivers guaranteed performance in the planet’s harshest environments, across land, sea and air. Rated IP66 and IP67, Bracer can withstand extreme conditions, keeping global teams connected when it matters the most.

To buy the Bracer Push-To-Talk product, or discuss its class-leading capabilities in more depth, please contact one of our global partner network:

Communication. Secured

Communication Secured

Endorsements

What users say about the Bracer system, across domains and deployments

From special forces to Arctic convoys, users around the world have adopted Bracer as part of their operational communications. Here's what they’ve said about its performance — in their own words.

International special forces user

“The system is easy to use and reliable – it simply works.”

National force commander

“Bracer is now mandated for all operational deployments.”

International user community

“It’s a true PACE radio that allows for use in numerous differing roles.”

International logistics unit

“Bracer has transformed our communications on the move and at reach. The position reporting feature gives us real-time visibility of our convoys and lets us engage with key personnel during transit. Before Bracer, we were using procedures from World War II — posting personnel at key points to report as convoys passed.”

Arctic deployment team

“Normally we’d need to position multiple rebroadcast stations to sustain VHF coverage. With Bracer, we maintained reliable comms throughout — without that extra infrastructure.”

Multinational operational team

“Setup took under five minutes. We hit the ground and were able to function immediately. Bracer gave us clear voice and position reporting from the start.”

Rotary air wing commander

“Bracer was in every crew grab bag. When one aircraft had to make an unplanned landing due to mechanical issues, the crew used Bracer to contact HQ within minutes. The position reporting meant there was no need to pass coordinates — the Ops Room already had them.”

International maritime unit

“The Bracer system has been hugely effective in support of our maritime operations. Lightweight and easy to install on RIBs, vessels, or wear on the body — it’s hugely versatile. Quality in a lightweight package.”

International special forces unit

“Interoperability is key. We’ve integrated Bracer with MANET radios, RoIP devices (WAVE, Cubic Vocality), tactical harnesses (Invisio), and Tactical Voice Bridge kits (Resilience/Basecamp). It’s plug-and-play — a lightweight radio that doesn’t need bespoke batteries, and works across our systems.”

Operational team using WinTAK/ATAK

“Bracer’s position overlay into ATAK gave our Ops Team a real-time picture of deployed assets. Our HQ — thousands of miles away — could monitor it live. Bracer’s power is in its simplicity.”