Harris Corp. wins place on $12B Army radio contract

ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 1 (UPI) -- Harris Corporation has won a place on a $12.7 billion U.S. Army indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for HMS Manpack radios.

The contract, which is also held by two other companies, is for five years with one five-year option. The $12.7 billion is the contract's maximum ceiling amount.

The Army expects full-rate production of the radios to start in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017 and to eventually obtain about 65,000 units through the awards, Harris said.

"The HMS Manpack award is a major step forward for the U.S. Army's tactical radio modernization program, and brings essential battlefield networking and communications capabilities to the warfighter," said Brendan O'Connell, president, Tactical Communications, Harris Communication Systems. "The award also allows Harris to now compete at all echelons of the Army tactical communications architecture -- from dismounted handheld radios through vehicular-based radio platforms."

Harris' Falcon III AN/PRC-158 multi-channel radio for both dismounted and mounted manpack configurations will be supplied to the Army. Ir features a two-channel architecture and integrated cross-banding. It also features SRW, SINCGARS and MUOS SATCOM waveforms and is interoperabile with legacy waveforms.