16 Sep 02. Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), announced that it delivered Falcon II AN/PRC-117F multiband radios to the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (U.K. MoD) as part of an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR). The radios are being used in the War on Terrorism. Harris delivered the radios to the United Kingdom within one week, where they were immediately transported to the mission area. This marks the third order for AN/PRC-117F radios in the U.K.
“We had an urgent need for communications equipment and we were grateful for the risk Harris assumed in preparing the radios prior to contract award,” said Col Mike Lithgow of the U.K. MoD. “The Falcon II radios were immediately transferred to the mission area and enabled secure, interoperable ground/air communications in support of the U.K. element operating alongside U.S. forces as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. They were a major success, without which the exercise of C2 (Command and Control) in extremely difficult and harsh terrain would not have been possible.”
The AN/PRC-117F is a member of Harris’ successful Falcon II family of tactical radios that has been selected for two major communications standardization programs within the last year. Harris was selected as the preferred HF subsystem supplier for the U.K. Bowman Programme. Harris also was chosen as part of the Boeing Team for the U.S. Government’s Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) Cluster 1 program which is expected to ultimately supply 100,000 radios for U.S. Government ground-based and fixed-wing applications.
BATTLESPACE’S Editor Julian Nettlefold visited Harris at it’s Melbourne Florida plant on Thursday and we will be running a feature on the company’s latest developments in our AUSA special issue.