GENERAL Dynamics has denied claims that its Bowman radios are causing radiation burns to soldiers using the new system.

The Canadian firm, which has its UK headquarters at Oakdale, was responding to reports carried in the journal Defence Analysis that soldiers of the Royal Anglian Regiment had received burns from the radio sets when they were used on certain power settings.

The regiment was the first to be equipped with the sets and since July has been helping to trial them.

The Ministry of Defence says that there had been "minor radio frequency burns" to soldiers during the trial but all injuries were minor and none required medical treatment.

A spokesman said the problem was not unique to Bowman and the trial was continuing.

General Dynamics has contracts with the British Army worth over £2 billion to modernise battlefield communications and is recruiting more engineers at Oakdale to take its workforce from 250 to 400.

Speaking to the Business Argus, General Dynamics manager Mike Turley said: "These reports are simply sensationalist journalism. "Firstly, when people speak of radiation in this context, they don't mean nuclear radiation but powerful radio waves. "And it's nothing to do with the radios themselves but their antennas.

"It's purely a matter of physics that if you were to grab hold of an antenna transmitting at very high power you could burn yourself.

"On an even bigger scale, if you climbed up a TV transmitter mast or stood in front of an aircraft radar it would probably kill you.

"That's why there are safety rules. But this is physics and has nothing to do with the specific design of our equipment."

The Bowman contract recognised the fact that Britain's battlefield communications have been problematic for some years.

The Clansman radio (which Bowman is replacing) was so unreliable British troops in Kosovo found that at any one time one third of them needed repair and unit commanders had to resort to using their own mobile phones.

Bowman will ensure that the infantry can talk to the tanks and other fighting units so that - in theory - everyone knows what's going on.

But the scale of the new equipment is causing other problems. The army is putting so much kit into Land-Rover-based mobile communication units it is exceeding the vehicles' payloads and reports are circulating of chassis and axle failures. The Ministry of Defence is said to be investigating the possibility of upgrading their Land-Rovers' carrying capacity.