Navy asks Harris to provide portable radios for communications in $765 million contract
SAN DIEGO – U.S. Navy radio communications experts are asking Harris Corp. to provide a variety of military portable radios under terms of a $765 million sole-source contract for RF and microwave equipment announced Monday.
Officials of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego are asking the Harris Corp. RF Communications segment in Rochester, N.Y., to provide handheld, manpack, vehicular, and base-station radios for Navy and Marine Corps use.
The contract also includes ancillary parts for these radios, which must meet requirements of the chief of naval operations for legacy tactical portable radios.
Harris offers a variety of military handheld radios, including the Falcon III AN/PRC-152A wideband networking handheld radio, which provides simultaneous voice, video, and high-speed data. It uses the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) and Harris Adaptive Networking Wideband Waveform to deliver ad-hoc, self-healing and adaptive networking capabilities to infantry warfighters on the move.
The Harris manpack radio offerings include the Falcon III AN/PRC-117G(V)1(C) multiband networking manpack software-defined radio, which provides wideband data performance and legacy narrowband interoperability in the 30 MHz to 2 GHz frequency range. It is JTRS compliant, with a Software Communications Architecture (SCA) to offer SATCOM and legacy narrowband compatibility.
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Harris offers a variety of vehicular radios, including the AN/VRC-118(V)1 Mid-tier Networking Vehicular Radio (MNVR) for warfighters at the tactical edge. The modular software-defined radio provides a self-forming and self-healing wireless network for on-the-move and stationary forces. It uses two high-bandwidth waveforms -- the Soldier Radio Waveform and the Wideband Networking Waveform -- that enable mission-critical information to hop from one AN/VRC-118(V)1 MNVR to another, finding the best route between sender and receiver.
The Harris base station radios include the MASTR series that offer easy-to-use software interfaces that provide flexibility, simplified setup, and easy field upgrades as well as remote programming.
On this contract Harris will do the work in Rochester, N.Y., and should be finished by September 2018. Options may extend the contract's duration to September 2022.
For more information contact Harris RF Communications online at www.harris.com.
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John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
