US Army selects L3Harris for Common Data Link sustainment
Conceptual image of Common Data Link architecture. (Image: BAE Systems)
L3Harris is to maintain the backbone secure communications protocol for the US armed forces and intelligence services.
Sole bidder L3Harris Technologies has received a ten-year contract worth $886.53 million from the US Army to sustain the Common Data Link (CDL) secure communications programme.
‘Work locations and funding will be determined with each order,’ the DoD announced on 23 September, with an estimated completion date of 22 September 2032.
Established by the DoD in 1991 as the jamming-resistant backbone protocol for SIGINT and imagery intelligence, CDL is used by the DoD and US intelligence community for wideband real-time downlink secure transmission in the Ku-band of sensor data (from EO, IR and synthetic aperture payloads, for instance) and real-time uplink control of sensor payloads.
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