Harris details new US military contracts
Harris Corporation will supply the US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) with up to 1,500 Falcon III AN/PRC-152A wideband radios and accessories under a contract announced on 16 September.
As part of AFSOC’s communication system, the AN/PRC-152A provides ground-to-air communications and enhanced situational awareness of the battlefield. The wideband tactical radios are designed to meet current and emerging mission requirements using a full suite of integrated line-of-sight, beyond-line-of-sight and wideband communications.
The company has also been selected by the US Air Force and Missile Systems Center for the Hosted Payload Solutions (HoPS) programme, announcing a 5-year, $495 million multi-vendor IDIQ contract on 17 September.
This contract will see Harris match government payloads with commercial spacecraft and provide integration, testing, infrastructure and operations services to accommodate, launch and operate the payloads.
Bill Gattle, vice president and general manager, National Programs, Harris Government Communications Systems, said: ‘HoPS is an ambitious undertaking that further validates the benefits of putting government payloads into space on a commercial platform. The Harris team brings broad experience in hosted payloads augmented by highly reliable, global ground teleports and communications networking infrastructure.’
The Harris HoPS team includes ABS, AsiaSat, Airbus Defence and Space, Globalstar, GreenDart, Iridium Communications Inc., Millennium Engineering and Integration, O3b Networks, ORBCOMM, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Surrey Satellite Technology, Telesat and Thales Alenia Space.
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