The network is Army modernization’s number one priority, and Harris Corp. [HRS] radios are participating in service Network Integration Evaluations (NIE) to show what they can do, even as they continually improve, a company official said.
“Harris is delivering the network now,” Dennis Moran, vice president, Government Business Development, Harris RF Communications, said in an interview. “The JTRS enterprise business model continues to bear fruit.”
The Army network effort runs through the Joint Tactical Radio System Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO JTRS), led by Brig. Gen. Michael Williamson, where the radios developed are expected to work with current and future radios, and provide room for growth. These radios include integrated encryption and Wideband Networking Software to create mobile ad hoc networks.
The Harris Falcon III AN/PRC 117G wideband manpack tactical radio received National Security Agency (NSA) Type 1 certification to implement the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW), and the company is shipping the radios with SRW this month. The radio also received JTRS Software Communications Architecture certification.
The radio, in use in Afghanistan and Iraq by the Army and Marines, was well received at this past summer’s NIE 11.2 and will be part of the current NIE 12.1 that runs through mid-November.
Additionally, the Harris AN/PRC 152A wideband handheld radio is part of the Army’s second NIE, 12.1. The 152 Alpha has networking capabilities and is geared to the soldier who is away from his or her vehicle. The AN/PRC 152A is in the process of certifying SRW in the device and runs the NSA certified ANW2 wideband waveform, a Harris proprietary waveform. The radio is in the process of certifying SRW in the device.
JPEO JTRS maintains a waveform library where companies can find software they need, such as SRW or Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW), both for use by land forces, for their products.
The Harris 117G runs SRW and the Harris ANW2 proprietary waveform. JPEO JTRS wants to move away from proprietary software, Williamson said recently, though the office has reached out to Harris to examine possibilities.
Moran said, “Harris is not negotiating with the JPEO. There are no terms or conditions on the table. We are only discussing GPR (Government Purpose Rights) on ANW2 with the JPEO.”
As the Army lets the contract for the Boeing [BA]-led Joint Tactical Radio Systems (JTRS) Ground Mobile Radio (GMR) run out, all the communications business companies are interested in a new competitive program expected to begin early next year.
Harris believes it is well positioned to compete for a new GMR radio because of its business approach, Moran, a former Army major general, said.
For example, the AN/PRC 117G was developed following the JTRS program Enterprise Business Model (EBM). This EBM encourages companies to develop next-generation tactical communication solutions using their own funds to integrate JTRS waveform software. JEPO JTRS expects EBM to stimulate competition, increase innovation, and reduce costs through software re-use.
Moran said the communications business anticipates uses and develops products, something the NIE is now leaning toward. Essentially, the NIE is not dependent on research, development, test and evaluation funds or requirements documents.
“Companies are bound by standards dictated by environmental conditions and develop products and fit into JTRS business model,” he said.
The Army identifies gaps, makes them known in sources sought documents and then accepts white papers, and says, “show me,” he said. If the technology to fill the gap gets a passing grade in the lab and engineering meets the gap and the equipment fits into the network architecture, then it could head to White Sands Missile Range, N.M., for soldier evaluation.
But what happens next is yet to be defined, he said. The output has to be a procurement, killing off a technology or accelerating communications devices. If companies invest their own dollars into an NIE effort, it is reasonable to expect a procurement at the end of it.
Meanwhile, Harris keeps receiving orders. Recently, for example, the company received $20 million in orders from the Army Project Manager Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles for Falcon III AN/PRC-117G manpack radios and AN/VRC-144 vehicular amplifier adapters for use in MRAP vehicles. PM-MRAP is acquiring radios and vehicular systems to provide the ability to upgrade to MUOS satellite communications, as directed by Army G3/5/7 LANDWARNET. The AN/PRC-117G radios provides satellite communications on-the-move capability to MRAP vehicles and could expand capabilities available to crew members to include streaming video, simultaneous voice and data feeds, collaborative chat and connectivity to secure networks.
Earlier this month the company received a $66.3 million order from the Army to provide the 117G in support of the modernization of Brigade Combat Team tactical communications. The radios will become part of the Army’s emerging tactical network connecting all levels of the battlefield to secure voice and wideband data communications.
Also, on Oct. 6 Harris said it received a $16 million order DoD for additional Falcon IIIr AN/PRC-117G multiband manpack radios systems. The radios will supply DoD forces with networked line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight tactical communications.
To date, Harris has shipped 15,000 AN/PRC-117G radio systems to the United States DoD and allies such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, other NATO nations and Australia.
Harris is confident in its future, recently opening a 575,000 square foot facility in Rochester, N.Y., investing millions of its own money to position itself for growth, Moran said.