Harris Receives $66M Contract for Tactical Network from US Army

Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, has received a $66.3 million order from the U.S. Army via the GSA, FAS Assisted Acquisition Services to provide Falcon III AN/PRC-117G multiband manpack radios in support of the modernization of Brigade Combat Team tactical communications. The Harris radios will become an integral part of the Army’s emerging tactical network to connect all levels of the battlefield to robust, secure voice and wideband data communications. The AN/PRC-117G delivers enhanced command and control and situational awareness through applications such as streaming video, collaborative chat, biometric enrollment and secure network connectivity. The Army has identified development of the tactical network as its top modernization priority. “This order validates the effectiveness of the Army’s Network Integration Evaluation, which was created to identify and speed the delivery of tactical networking solutions to the edge,” said Dana Mehnert, group president, Harris RF Communications. “The NIE has been a clear success and we look forward to continuing to work with the Army. As proven at the first NIE and in combat, the AN/PRC-117G delivers transformational voice and wideband networking capabilities to the soldier, including the first Type-1 implementation of the JTRS Soldier Radio Waveform.” At the first NIE in June and July at Fort Bliss, Texas and White Sands, N.M., Harris deployed 20- and 30-node AN/PRC-117G wideband networks that connected a range of military vehicles to company command post platforms and provided access to applications such as TIGR, FTP and combat chat. Harris is currently working with the U.S. Army to integrate the AN/PRC-117G and other radios into the second NIE, which starts this month, and third NIE, scheduled for March 2012. In addition to AN/PRC-117G radios, Harris is providing AN/VRC-114 vehicular amplifier adapters, spare radio kits, training and installation to the Army in connection with its rollout of a broad network-centric battlefield communications system.