Harris Corporation Gets a U.S. Air Force order for Falcon III Multiband Handheld Radios worth $6.5 Million

The U.S. Air Force is acquiring the Falcon III AN/PRC-152(C) 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.

“The AN/PRC-152(C) handheld will provide Air Force civil engineers with high-performance voice communication capabilities for a wide range of tactical missions,” said George Helm, president, Department of Defense business, Harris RF Communications. “The AN/PRC-152(C) 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(C) radios via the Consolidated Single Channel Handheld Radios Project through the Joint Program Executive Office Joint Tactical Radio System (JPEO JTRS). The AN/PRC-152(C) is the most widely fielded NSA Type-1 certified, JTRS SCA-certified handheld radio, with more than 160,000 units 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(C) 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.

The company's Falcon® family of software-defined tactical radio systems encompasses manpack, handheld and vehicular applications. Falcon III is the next generation of radios supporting the U.S. military's JTRS requirements, as well as network-centric operations worldwide.