Harris Corporation Introduces Falcon(R) III Multiband Manpack Radio

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AUSA booth 1907 -- Harris Corporation has introduced the Falcon(R) III multiband, multimission, manpack tactical radio. This addition to the Falcon III family of tactical radios provides significant new capabilities, including wideband secure networking, a four-fold increase in frequency range to 2 GHz, and a significant reduction in weight and size compared to competitive products. With its extended frequency coverage, Falcon(R) III combines traditional multiband radio features with new capabilities such as commercial L-Band SATCOM and wideband mobile ad-hoc networking.

"The Falcon III multiband radio platform offers a significant leap in networking reliability, data throughput rates, and miniaturization for our customers and brings future capabilities to the market now," said Dana Mehnert, president, Harris RF Communications Division. "These advanced capabilities allow data-intensive applications to be used in situations that were never before practical. It not only provides our customers with significantly more capabilities than current radios, but also is designed to quickly accommodate new waveforms as they become available to address their future requirements. This radio significantly extends networking and situational awareness for our customers."

The Falcon III manpack radio is a companion radio to the AN/PRC-152(C) multiband handheld and AN/VRC-110 vehicular radios, introduced in calendar year 2005. With an extended range, Software Communications Architecture (SCA) operating environment, and significant processing power, it will accommodate new waveforms for networking, TACSAT, and public safety interoperability.

The manpack radio incorporates the Harris Advanced Networking Wideband Waveform (ANW2) to provide secure IP data networking to the tactical Internet at on-air rates up to 10 megabits per second. The high data rate capability, coupled with mobile ad-hoc networking, automated network establishment and maintenance, and integrated IP Security (IPSEC), provides a powerful networking solution. Because the radios utilize the SCA operating environment, future networking waveforms can be incorporated as they are developed and released.

The Falcon III manpack radio provides 20 watts of output power - twice as much as similar-sized radios - and it includes embedded encryption for voice and data. Additionally, the radio includes an embedded, military-grade GPS receiver for timing and situational awareness.

Harris RF Communications Division is a leading supplier of secure voice and data communications products, systems, and networks to military, government, and commercial organizations worldwide. Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. With headquarters in Melbourne, Florida, the company has annual sales of $3.5 billion and nearly 14,000 employees - including more than 6,000 engineers and scientists - dedicated to the development of best-in-class, assured communications(TM) products, systems, software, and services. The company's operating divisions serve markets for government communications, RF communications, broadcast communications, and microwave communications. Additional information about Harris Corporation is available at http://www.harris.com/.