Royal Marines reach 2,000 MPU5 radios in service amidst UK comms woes

Without effective links connecting systems and carrying data, concepts like any-sensor, any-shooter will fail. The UK has had long-running challenges with its comms, the Royal Marines and their MPU5 radios could show a route forwards. 

The UK’s Royal Marines have now successfully fielded more than 2,000 MPU5 radio systems that utilise the Wave Relay® MANET, according to an October 28 press release from the supplier, Persistent Systems. The Marines are modernising under the UK Commando Force (UKCF) transformation, which will eventually see the 40 and 45 Commandos deploy Littoral Strike Units of around 250 personnel in a dispersed fashion. Their goal is to conduct intelligence and surveillance of enemy positions and call in long-range strikes. 

Pretty simple, right? Well, dispersal places a number of challenges on a force, especially one that is meant to be conducting intensive ISTAR and sending data back to a ship or command node. It means that the Marines will simultaneously need to have very reliable comms links, but also ones that have a low electronic signature. This means reviving the old methods of emissions control – which is where units would only transmit if really necessary and keep their messages short. But it also means exploiting new technologies, which is where the MPU5 comes in. 

The Persistent Systems MPU5 is a sophisticated, tactical networking device that combines a high-performance radio, a powerful computer, and an HD video encoder/decoder into a single, compact unit. It operates on the proprietary Wave Relay Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) technology, enabling robust, self-forming, and self-healing peer-to-peer communication. 

Technically, the MPU5 utilises Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) radio technology, which provides high throughput and reliability, especially in complex environments where line-of-sight may be obstructed. Furthermore, the radio includes an integrated Android™ OS, allowing users to run custom and third-party apps, connect cameras and other USB devices, and stream HD video and voice simultaneously. Effectively, the MPU5 acts as an all-in-one command, control, and communication platform for military and public safety applications. Altogether, it is expected to enable the Royal Marines to operate dispersed, and with a low emissions profile, whilst also passing good volumes of data back to their command nodes for targeting. 

MPU5 and the UK’s radio woes

“The MPU5 was involved in experimentation work with EVE 2 around 2020 – 2021 between LRGX in Cyprus and Autonomous Advanced Force events. MPU5 was used forward, with reachback to Company group and above; indeed the First Sea Lord from the UK was able to plug in with an EVE handset from his office,” Gabriele Molinelli, a defence journalist and analyst told Calibre Defence via X.com.

The radio was then officially selected by the Royal Marines in 2023, with at least 1,000 ordered at that time, which had been fielded by late 2024. The radios have proven themselves on exercise with US Marines, with the Royal Marines providing forward reconnaissance and targeting support. The British Army is thought to have considered the MPU5s to replace its Personal Role Radios, but industry outlets reported in 2021 that the price was too high. 

Even so, the British Army has ended up procuring new radios in support of Project ASGARD, as it was found the existing BOWMAN communications system could not achieve what they set out to do. The company BlackTree provided a suite of TrellisWare radios for the 4th Brigade. 

BOWMAN was expected to be used across the UK’s three services, but proved to be a very complex and challenging programme to deliver. This is not unusual for a wholesale modernisation of a communications system for a large organisation like the British armed forces. However, the challenges were magnified by the UK’s deployments to Afghanistan. One senior officer told his soldiers to accept the radios for political reasons, adding “hang on to your cellphones,” according to The Standard.

In 2008, Lt-Col Nick Borton who was commanding a Scots infantry battalion in Afghanistan told reporters, “The coverage on VHF [the most commonly used frequency for tactical communications] is just a few hundred metres…We use HF or UHF but that only gives us five kilometres. In some cases we cannot even get coverage from one side of the base to the other…As far as I am concerned, Bowman is astonishingly bad; it is a broken system.” There were many issues with the radios, they were power-hungry, and heavier than the Clansmen that they replaced. Moreover, the battery life was short, driving soldiers to carry additional batteries – along with the additional ammunition that many of them opted to carry. 

The radios were, however, encrypted. This was a first for the British Army. But the development timeframe had started in the 1980s before the project was cancelled and restarted in the early 2000s. This meant that by the time soldiers started deploying BOWMAN, mobile phone technology was already far more capable. This is why procuring software-defined radios that do not add too much to the soldier’s burden, like the MPU5 and others, and without modification, are important steps to take when modernising a communications system. The Royal Marine procurement of MPU5 is an example of this being done, and having 2,000 radios in service just two years after signing a contract reflects results that this can yield.

What is a MANET?

A Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is a decentralised, infrastructure-less wireless network where all participating devices, or nodes, are mobile. Unlike traditional networks that rely on fixed infrastructure like routers or cell towers, a MANET’s devices dynamically establish connections with each other “on the fly.” Crucially, each node in the network acts as a router, forwarding data for other nodes that are not within direct transmission range. This peer-to-peer routing capability allows the network to be highly resilient, self-configuring, and self-healing. If a node moves or fails, the network automatically re-routes traffic around it, ensuring continuous connectivity. MANETs are ideal for scenarios where fixed infrastructure is unavailable or destroyed, such as in military operations or disaster relief.

Calibre comment: CONOPS vs technical reality

Communications are the lynchpin of modern war-fighting concepts. Without effective radio frequency links and digital backbones, concepts like any-sensor to any-shooter will fail. The current limits are often to do with bandwidth and performance outside of ideal conditions. For British forces, there is likely a training element, too. For example, there has been little need for the UK to deploy and test its Falcon trunk communications system at a brigade level. If this is not practiced and a smooth deployment, it will be difficult to pass even basic amounts of data from forward reconnaissance elements back to the command elements. 

The UK’s digital targeting web, which anticipates bringing together the “any-sensor, any-shooter” efforts of the three primary services through common standards, will succeed or fail based on the comms architectures that are in place. It is unlikely that the existing architecture will allow for the kind of connectivity and scale of transfers envisioned. Satellite communications are expected to make up for this shortfall, but they are expensive, and increasing reliance upon space-based assets will increase the incentive for adversaries to target those assets. It follows that improving ground-based communications through proven, off-the-shelf (i.e., by not modifying them), is a sensible route to improving the British Army’s bandwidth and ability to fight the way the MoD hopes it will. The roll-out of MPU5s by the Royal Marines could stand as a logical path for the Army to follow.

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on October 30, 2025. The lead image shows soldiers with the MPU5 radio, the three antennas just visible on the middle-soldier’s back. Credit: Persistent Systems.