Harris Corp., an international communications and information technology company, has been awarded a $7.7 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide its RF-7800W Broadband Ethernet Radio system to the US Marine Corps to deliver high-bandwidth data networking capability closer to the battlefield.
The RF-7800W provides wireless backbone connections between higher- level command posts and their forward- operating bases at data rates in excess of 80 Megabits per second (Mb/s).
Harris is part of a team led by TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS), a firm involved in mission-critical wireless communications, and will supply the RF-7800W high-capacity line-of-sight data radios to the US Marines for use in extending data links from command operations centers down to the tactical level. By establishing those links, the RF-7800W dramatically enhances situational awareness and command and control processes.
Harris is providing RF-7800W radios to integrate into the Wireless Point to Point Link system, a key element of the Marines' battlefield-communications solution. The agreement was granted under contract with the Army Project Manager for the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, and through the US Army's $5 billion Worldwide Satellite Systems contract vehicle.
The RF-7800W securely transfers encrypted Internet Protocol (IP) traffic over distances up to 50 kilometers under clear line-of-sight conditions in fixed point-to-point configurations. It also supports an impressive throughput in excess of 80 Mb/s. When deployed, the RF-7800W will provide connectivity in both point-to-point and pointto- multipoint configurations.
In addition to the RF-7800W, Harris Corp. markets a range of high-capacity radios that are the most technologically advanced of their kind: the Harris Falcon III RF-300M-MP manpack, a wideband networking radio that delivers secure Internet Protocol data to the tactical Internet at on-air rates of up to 10 Mb/s and the Highband Network Radio, developed jointly with BAE Systems, which provides a flexible, medium- range, fixed, or fully mobile adhoc mesh communication network.
For additional information on this and other developments at Harris Corp., go to www.harris.com.