DSEI UK 2025: Motorola Solutions and Nokia collaborate on comms for UK MoD

Motorola Solutions and Nokia announced a partnership to develop a new communications network solution for the UK on 4 September 2025. The companies presented their solution during DSEI 2025, and Calibre Defence met with Noel Sheeran, business director for defence at Motorola Solutions, to learn more. 

The system is known as Hablar, which means “to talk” in Spanish, and is housed in containers, combining technologies from both companies to provide voice and data communications for military operations. It is designed for the divisional and corps-level of deployment. “We have taken what was delivered to the German MoD and translated it into what the British Army has asked for,” Noel explained during the exhibition. The capability that Motorola Solutions is delivering to Germany is known as Zellulare Netze verlegefähig (ZNV), which approximately means “deployable cellular network.”

The modular system integrates Motorola Solutions’ Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) infrastructure with Nokia’s 5G AirScale portfolio. TETRA is a standard for professional mobile radio systems, widely used by public safety agencies and military organisations for secure voice communications. The 5G AirScale portfolio refers to Nokia’s range of products for building 5G cellular networks. The system is designed to be housed in rugged containers, allowing it to be deployed and operational in under 30 minutes. 

The solution also incorporates Motorola Solutions’ Silvus MANET technology for backhaul connectivity. A backhaul network is the part of a communications system that connects a central network to its distant, smaller parts. MANET, or Mobile Ad-hoc Network, is a type of wireless network where devices can communicate with each other directly without fixed infrastructure. The Silvus MANET technology creates a self-healing mesh network, where data can be routed automatically around obstacles or failed connections. This is intended to extend communication across various environments and support the use of sensors and unmanned systems.

The company has used as many off-the-shelf components as possible and leveraged the design of Germany’s ZNV to offer a solution that is at a high level of maturity. “Off the shelf is key to getting capability into service quickly,” Noel said. 

“Silvus is the most important element; you can’t have the network without MANET,” Noel explained. “Deeper echelons are the focus in the UK at the moment…dispersal provides safety and security, but that needs a robust communications network to make it happen,” he said. It is, or should be, common practice to disperse a force’s logistics over a wide area. This provides security by presenting only small targets that are more difficult to engage accurately. However, it can create what is sometimes referred to as a “fragmented battlefield,” which essentially means there are no continuous frontlines. 

“I was given the target to disperse over an area the size of Wales [that’s around 20,000 square km], which means long lines of communication and mobility corridors. It means you need to be able to do asset tracking, hygiene monitoring, and defend the area with a small force,” Noel explained.. 

“Protection of the rear for us means video sensors with AI. We have a range of sensors like the Jaegar camera that can scan out to 60km, and short-range solutions that provide optical and thermal detection,” he explained. Cameras and sensors can be used to detect movements, or at least provide an alert when something is not right. “If you can make the support enterprise (logistics etc.) more efficient through technology, then that can help to double fighting power by reducing demands on manpower,” he suggested. 

The future of Hablar in the UK is a little unclear at present. As is the case for many of the ongoing procurements. However, Noel indicated that it would be complementary to Trinity, which is the UK’s trunk network designed to support  data transfer. 

Calibre comment

Communications are key to the way that the British Army wants to fight in the future. Concepts envisaged under Project ASGARD are certainly data intensive, and will require extensive bandwidth to carry the data and communications required to make them work. This is especially the case if every sensor is meant to feed into a central command and control node, which is also able to send instruction out to every shooter. Self-healing networks, like the Silvus MANET, could help to carry that data in an efficient way, as well as help reduce the effects of adversary jamming. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on September 18, 2025. Credit for the lead image is Motorola Solutions.