Harris Corporation receives US DOD order

Harris is to provide the US Department of Defence (DOD) with the Falcon III AN/PRC-152A handheld and AN/PRC-117G manpack tactical radios under a newly announced $4.8 million contract. This marks the first time the DOD has acquired these systems in a single order.

The Falcon III  AN/PRC-152A handheld and AN/PRC-117G manpack tactical radios provide forces all the way to the tactical edge with wideband networking for enhanced situational awareness and command and control. Together, they deliver battlefield networking capabilities that address the requirements of the entire combat team, from brigade to squad and on to the individual dismounted soldier. The AN/PRC-117G and AN/PRC-152A are next-generation software-defined radios that provide secure voice, video and data communications, enabling network-enabled missions through advanced applications such as streaming video and collaborative chat.

The two radios were recently deployed together at the Army’s Network Integration Evaluation. In that exercise, the radios extended wideband communication capabilities across an area in excess of 3,200 square miles.

The AN/PRC-117G manpack is combat proven, with more than 16,000 radios shipped. The new AN/PRC-152A serves as a complement to the AN/PRC-117G, providing wideband networking and legacy voice in a lightweight, portable handheld form factor.

The AN/PRC-152A offers tactical users the broadest set of capabilities in any handheld radio. Wideband networking capabilities will initially be provided by the Harris Adaptive Networking Wideband Waveform (ANW2). The JTRS Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) to be added to the radio later this year. The AN/PRC-152A also hosts SINCGARS, VHF/UHF Line-of-Sight (VULOS), HaveQuick, IW for tactical satellite communications and other combat net radio waveforms. This makes the AN/PRC-152A the only Type-1 certified wideband networking handheld radio that is also fully interoperable with deployed DOD radios.