L3Harris to provide more Falcon IV AN/PRC-167 manpack radios for special forces in $297.2 million order
MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – Radio communications experts at L3Harris Technologies Inc. will continue building next-generation secure manpack radios for U.S. Special Operations Command to enable commando teams to communicate on frequencies from 30 to 2,600 MHz with embedded communications security.
Officials of Special Operations Command (SOCOM) at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., announced a $297.2 million order Friday to the L3Harris Technologies Communications Systems segment in Rochester, N.Y., to provide Special Operations Forces with Falcon IV AN/PRC-167 Multi-channel Manpack radios -- also known as the Tactical Communications Next Generation Manpack (STC NGMP) Radio system.
The new manpack radio has an open-systems architecture to enable periodic hardware, firmware, operating software, and radio waveform upgrades. L3Harris won the initial PRC-167 contract in June 2017.
The new radios are replacing SOCOM's current radio communications equipment like the AN/PRC-117F and PRC 117G multiband multimission radios, as well as the AN/PRC-150 multiband radio.
Related: Special Operations Command readies industry competition to develop new manpack radio
The new radios also enable Special Operations forces to receive and distribute intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data in the form of full motion video, and support simultaneous dual-channel line-of-sight, and beyond-line-of-sight operation using legacy, and advanced digital radio waveforms.
SOCOM experts are asking L3Harris to provide a special forces radio with National Security Agency (NSA) and Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) certifications, and make the new communications system available for purchase no later than June 2018.
The new radio will be capable of simultaneous two-channel operation with each channel able to support narrowband and wideband waveforms simultaneously while receiving intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) data in full-motion video as an embedded capability or via an attached mission module.
The STC NGMP will be able to crossband data from one of its two channels to the other and from the ISR receiver to either of the two radio channels, as well as include an embedded selective availability anti-spoofing module (SAASM) Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.
SOCOM is asking for capabilities like the Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) integrated waveform (IW) for UHF satellite communications (SATCOM), Mobile User Objective System (MOUS), general purpose narrowband and wideband high frequency (HF) waveforms, advanced special communications modes (ASCM) and electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) waveforms.
L3Harris also will provide program and configuration management, systems engineering to include software, logistics support, operational and depot-level maintenance, data, and training.
On this contract L3Harris will do most of the work in Rochester, N.Y., and should be finished by June 2023. For more information contact L3Harris Technologies Communications Systems online at www.l3harris.com, or U.S. Special Operations Command at www.socom.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
