"If your radio can’t carry a coalition C2 conversation in real time, you’re not just slow, you’re not relevant for what is ahead of you," said Andreas Dohrn, director of DND Digital, in a wide-ranging Q&A explaining why Rafael and its German subsidiary are racing to localize tactical communications for NATO-ready command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C3I).
Why coalition C2 has become urgent, according to Andreas Dohrn
Dohrn lays out three simultaneous shifts that make coalition-capable tactical communications an operational imperative. First, commanders now make targeting and maneuver decisions "in minutes, not in hours," and those decisions depend on a coalition picture rather than a purely national one. Second, the electromagnetic environment is contested: radios must assume adversaries will be "jamming, spoofing, listening, obfuscating," and still deliver. Third, "coalitions are the new unit of action" in Europe — forces must interoperate with partners such as the Dutch, Poles, Romanians, and Americans under a "common operating picture" in real time.
Rafael’s German localization model: DND Digital and the industrial footprint
Rafael’s relationship with Germany spans "more than 30 years" and includes joint ventures such as EuroSpike (with Diehl Defence and Rheinmetall) and EuroTrophy (with KNDS and General Dynamics European Land Systems). The latest expression of that partnership is Dynamit Nobel Defence Digital (DND Digital), a digital division inside Dynamit Nobel Defence that is fully owned by Rafael. DND Digital’s stated mission is "to localize, to harden, to evolve Rafael’s BNET tactical communications platform for Germany and Europe" and to build an engineering authority "on German soil."
DND Digital operates across three German sites: a Flintbek production site and future headquarters, a radio development center in Berlin, and a data-management development center in Leipzig. Dohrn says the effort began "five, six years ago as a small division" and has grown to "dozens and dozens of engineers and specialists" today, with a trajectory into the "multi-hundred range by the early 2030s." Production and assembly for BNET radios is being established in Flintbek with local suppliers, component qualification, and an ISO 9100 quality system.
BNET: software-defined MANET, non-ITAR design, integration-ready
BNET is described as "a software-defined MANET-based tactical communications platform" — a radio-based mesh network in which "every node is a router" and "every soldier is a piece of that mesh" when connected. Dohrn emphasized three properties that make BNET a foundation for European C3I: it is software-defined so capabilities can evolve through software updates; it is "mission-proven globally"; and it is non-ITAR, designed "without controlled components in the path that would make European exports dependent on other countries’ licenses."
Crucially for national procurement, Dohrn says BNET is "integration-ready," localized with German integrators and an engineering team that holds authority to tailor the system to national and coalition requirements. Localization is framed as engineering, manufacturing, and R&D presence — not merely a sales office or translated manuals.
How Rafael protects Israeli IP while transferring authority to DND Digital
Gideon Weiss, vice president for business development and marketing at Rafael, described the transfer of technology into a "wholly owned subsidiary" as a balance between sensitivity and sovereignty. He said the arrangement is "safer both on the regulatory side, as well as on the commercial side," because Rafael retains corporate control over the capability while enabling DND Digital to "retain that capability" and make it "European" and even "classified European without the need to have any Israeli hand or eye overseeing or doing anything at the system level."
What this means for technologists, policymakers, and the Bundeswehr
- Technologists and security teams: BNET’s software-defined architecture shifts emphasis to waveform and software updates, cryptography, and integration work on platform interfaces and national C2 stacks — capabilities DND Digital says it is building in Berlin and Leipzig.
- Policymakers and procurement leaders: Weiss and Dohrn frame industrial localization as a sovereignty and supply-resilience decision. Dohrn notes that "when supply chains run through a single foreign capital, your operational autonomy ends where that capital’s politics begin," which drives demand for locally sourced production and European certification.
- The Bundeswehr and platform integrators: Germany’s "generational" reinvestment in its armed forces — referenced by Dohrn through mechanisms such as the Sondervermögen and Zeitenwende — is presented as creating the largest modern tactical-communications demand in Europe, matched by an industrial base accustomed to integrating complex systems into vehicles and command posts.
Dohrn and Weiss present the Rafael–DND Digital model as a repeatable template: foundational IP from Rafael combined with German engineering authority, production, and supply chains. As Dohrn put it, "the German model is not a one-off. It’s a blueprint" for any ally with a sovereign industrial base, cryptology authority, national champions, and the political will to invest. The immediate next steps on that blueprint are concrete: complete the Flintbek production line, scale hiring across the three sites, and certify the localized BNET for Bundeswehr and European use — steps the organization says are already underway.
