Rockwell Collins receives $450 million contract for ARC-210 radios

The US Navy has awarded a four-year production contract to Rockwell Collins for ARC-210 radios. The contract has a potential value of $450 million over the four-year life of the program.

“This contract continues a nearly 20-year relationship between Rockwell Collins and the US Navy and serves as a model for government-industry teaming,” said Greg Churchill, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Government Systems for Rockwell Collins. “The end result has been the development of a radio that is used for airborne multi-band, multi-mode communications across most branches of the US military.”

With more than 28,000 radios fielded, the ARC-210 is installed on more than 180 platforms worldwide and is operating in more than 40 countries. Domestically, ARC-210s are installed on a wide range of aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial systems across all the US military services and the US Coast Guard.

The ARC-210 provides two-way, multi-mode voice and data communications over a 30 to 512 MHz frequency range. It also includes embedded Ultra High Frequency (UHF) and Very High Frequency (VHF) anti-jam waveforms and other data link and secure communication features, providing the user with total battlefield interoperability and high-performance capabilities in the transfer of data, voice and imagery.

Included in the contract is the next generation ARC-210 radio, which will enter production in 2010. This fifth generation of the ARC-210 is software reprogrammable and brings several new capabilities to the warfighter, including extended frequency range for interoperability with civil agencies.