L3Harris [LHX] said Wednesday it has received $95 million from the Army to continue delivering AN/PRC-158 two-channel, software-defined manpack radios, which will be utilized in the service’s Integrated Tactical Network evaluation in late summer.
The latest deal is the company’s third low-rate initial production order for manpack radios under the $12.7 billion multi-award Handheld, Manpack and Small Form Fit (HMS) program, which also includes Collins Aerospace
[RTX] and France’s Thales.
“L3Harris is proud to deliver the most critical part of the U.S. Army’s Integrated Tactical Network, enabling secure multi-mission capability in the most challenging and contested environments,” Dana Mehnert, L3Harris’ president of communication systems, said in a statement. “The AN/PRC-158 will equip soldiers with cutting-edge waveforms, providing resilient SATCOM and advanced wideband networking at the tactical edge.”
The company is currently providing both the AN/PRC-158 manpack radio and the AN/PRC-163 handheld radios to the Army as new software-defined solutions that could play a role in establishing the Integrated Tactical Network.
Jeff Smith, L3Harris’ vice president of business development for communications systems, told Defense Daily in March the Army’s upcoming large-scale ITN evaluation includes gathering data on the three companies’ radio offerings to inform a full-rate production decision in 2021 (Defense Daily, March 31).
L3Harris noted the two-channel AN/PRC-158 radio is capable of managing a range of waveforms, including including Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS), Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), Demand Assigned Multiple Access/Integrated Waveform (DAMA/IW) and the future Warrior Robust Enhanced Network waveform.
“The software-defined architecture enables flexibility to respond to new and emerging requirements and allows easy porting of new waveforms. The radio is capable of simultaneously handling classified and unclassified data,” the company wrote in a statement.
Collins Aerospace announced Monday it received its eighth order from the Army to continue delivering its AN/PRC-162 two-channel radios (Defense Daily, April 27).