US Space Force increases efforts to plug training capabilities gaps
The service has been seeking simulation and emulation solutions capable of reproducing multiple in-orbit threats.
Harris has announced that it has received an order worth $39 million from US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) for Falcon III AN/PRC-152A wideband handheld tactical radios. The announcement came in a 16 May, 2012 company statement.
This order is the initial delivery order from a new $400 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract provided to Harris. The IDIQ supports USSOCOM’s Capital Equipment Replacement Programme and represents ‘an interim step in the modernisation of the SOCOM tactical radio inventory’. The contract also covers the Harris Falcon III AN/PRC-117G multiband manpack radio.
Harris said that the AN/PRC-152A offers tactical users the broadest set of capabilities in any handheld radio, including both wideband and narrowband waveforms. Wideband networking capabilities will initially be provided by the Harris Adaptive Networking Wideband Waveform, already certified by the National Security Agency for Type-1 High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryption (HAIPE). Harris expects to receive NSA Type-1 certification to operate the JTRS Soldier Radio Waveform in the radio later this year.
The AN/PRC-152A also hosts SINCGARS, VHF/UHF Line-of-Sight, HaveQuick, IW for tactical satellite communications and other combat net radio waveforms. This makes the AN/PRC-152A ‘the only Type-1 HAIPE certified wideband networking handheld radio that is also fully interoperable with deployed US Department of Defence radios’.
The service has been seeking simulation and emulation solutions capable of reproducing multiple in-orbit threats.
The service has been conducting several acquisition and upgrading efforts involving artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve communication, data analysis and ISR systems.
The Syracuse 4B communications satellite, developed by Airbus and Thales Alenia Space, was launched last year, bolstering secure military satellite communications for the French Armed Forces. Thales has now been selected to provide terminals for vehicles.
The growing importance of space in modern warfare, advancements in satellite technology, and increasing threats from rivals like China and Russia were among the topics of a Eurosatory 2024 panel on military space operations.
AN/ARC-232A is a Starfire radio that provides VHF/UHF communications to airborne platforms and the transceiver is software-programmable, allowing for multiple waveform support as well as optional national electronic counter counter-measure (ECCM) capability.
During the 18-month period of the contract, Lockheed Martin will apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques to create surrogate models of aircraft, sensors, electronic warfare and weapons within dynamic and operationally representative environments.