USMC awards Harris replacement radio contract

Harris Corporation has announced that it has been awarded a $6 million contract by the USMC to replace the existing radio system in use throughout East Coast USMC bases and other locations. 

The company revealed that it had received an initial order on 15 July, which will see it deliver a new radio system based upon Project 25 (P25) standards and Harris’ VIDA network.

P25 is a suite of standards for digital radio communications for use by federal, state and local public safety. The new system will use the modern Internet Protocol architecture that is used by P25 and VIDA.

The first order will involve the design and deployment of radio systems at four bases in North Carolina and Georgia. The total potential value of the full contract is $16 million, which will include system design and deployment, equipment, managed services, maintenance and other options. 

The replacement system will enable first responders to communicate and coordinate efforts more easily with neighbouring civilian agencies than the current analogue system, claimed Harris in a company statement. 

The contract follows a $26 million order USMC made for Falcon manpack radios on 15 May which will expand its wideband tactical network.  

Meanwhile Harris was granted a $61 million contract on 1 July to supply the Poland Ministry of National Defense with its Falcon III AN/PRC-117G manpack and AN/PRC-152A handheld radios.  

It was also awarded a $23 million order from an undisclosed Middle Eastern nation for the Falcon III radios, announced on 31 May 2013. 

‘Harris is helping customers transition legacy tactical communications to modern networked wideband systems,’ said Brendan O'Connell, president, International Business, Harris RF Communications, in relation to the Middle Eastern order.