MELBOURNE, Fla., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A manpack radio by Harris Corp. has successfully communicated with the U.S. military's new Mobile User Objective System satellite constellation.
The high-latitude experiment, conducted over the North Pole, was led by Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor to the U.S. government for the MUOS satellite system, Harris said, and involved repeated transmissions between the MUOS system and the Harris Falcon III AN/PRC-117G onboard an aircraft.
MUOS is a new military satellite communications system to provide U.S. Department of Defense users with enhanced, cellular telephone-like capabilities through tactical radios.
Harris said the result of the successful test result follows favorable results achieved in a laboratory test last summer.
"Harris is fully committed to delivering MUOS capability to the U.S. warfighter,'' said George Helm, president, Department of Defense business, Harris RF Communications. "The test results validate our advanced capabilities and speed in porting, certifying and deploying complex U.S. government waveforms.
"The AN/PRC-117G can enable the Department of Defense to address the anticipated shortage of terminals to deliver the significant capabilities that the MUOS constellation offers to the end user.''
It is anticipated there will be a shortage of radio terminals to handle communications with the MUOS constellation of satellites but could still be established through a software upgrade to currently fielded manpack radio systems, Harris said.
