the mbitr was developed by ussocom and thales communications in the 1990s and went into production in 1994, to address the need for a secure multiband handheld radio. it has been more widely deployed with stryker combat teams and with troops deploying to iraq and afghanistan. as of august 2007, 100,000 mbitrs have been fielded, over 31,000 of which are in use by the us army.