The US Army has received a Milestone C decision and authorisation for a limited rate initial production (LRIP) of the Falcon III AN/VRC-118 Mid-tier Networking Vehicular Radio (MNVR) from Harris Corporation, the company announced on 5 October.
The army has placed an initial order worth around $10 million for the two-channel Falcon III MNVR, which is based on Falcon III tactical wideband networking technology.
The MNVR uses the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) and Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW). It enables soldiers to share video, data and voice and also operates as a node in a mobile network, enabling information to be transmitted between MNVR systems until it reaches its destination.
The radios will be fielded to the 1st and 3rd Brigades of the army’s 82nd Airborne Division as part of Capability Set 17.
Brendan O’Connell, president, Harris Tactical Communications, said: ‘MNVR has proven that it provides the army a robust capability between battalion and above and company and below to allow continued brigade operations in satellite denied environments.
‘The MNVR supports the warfighters’ mission and exceeds system reliability, operational availability and maintainability requirements.’