Telecom Lead America: Harris Corporation has received a
$6.5 million order from the U.S. Air Force for Falcon III multiband,
multi-mission handheld radios.
The U.S. Air Force is acquiring the Falcon III AN/PRC-152
to provide line-of-sight communications to civil engineering teams for a range
of ground-based missions, such as fire and emergency management and explosive
ordinance disposal.
George Helm, president, Department of Defense business,
Harris RF Communications, said the AN/PRC-152 handheld will provide Air Force
civil engineers with high-performance voice communication capabilities for a
wide range of tactical missions. The AN/PRC-152 is part of the broader Falcon
III family of radios, which addresses current operational and emerging
requirements for voice and wideband data networking on the battlefield.
The Air Force is acquiring the AN/PRC-152 radios via the
Consolidated Single Channel Handheld Radios Project through the Joint Program
Executive Office Joint Tactical Radio System (JPEO JTRS).
More than 160,000 units of AN/PRC-152 have been deployed
worldwide.
The radio provides capabilities such as SINCGARS
interoperability, ultra high-frequency (UHF) ground-to-ground line-of-sight
communications, close-air support and programmable encryption.
The AN/PRC-152 was developed using the JTRS Enterprise
Business Model, which encourages companies to develop next-generation solutions
in tactical communications using their own investment capital to integrate JTRS
waveform software. This approach stimulates competition, increases innovation,
and reduces costs through software re-use.
Falcon III is the next generation of radios supporting
the U.S. military’s JTRS requirements, as well as network-centric operations
worldwide.