Harris Corp. [HRS] yesterday said it received National Security Agency Type-1 certification to implement the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) in the Harris Falcon III® AN/PRC-117G multiband manpack tactical radio.

This marks the first-ever fielding of Type-1 radios utilizing SRW, the company said.

SRW was developed by the Defense Department’s Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program to enable the digital battlefield by providing warfighters at the tactical edge with voice, data and mobile ad-hoc networking capabilities.

Earlier in the month, Harris was awarded a $26 million contract to upgrade and maintain SRW for wideband tactical communications (Defense Daily, July 14). Harris will deliver improved capabilities, maintenance and ongoing support for the waveform over five years. Key improvements will be placed in the JTRS Program Information Repository.

Harris has been providing Type-1 certified wideband tactical communications systems to the DoD for more than four years.

“Harris is proud to deliver the first Type-1 certified implementation of the JTRS Soldier Radio Waveform,” said Dana Mehnert, group president, Harris RF Communications. “This is a major investment that underscores our ongoing commitment to open-standard wideband waveforms that enable networking at the tactical edge. SRW’s availability in the Harris AN/PRC-117G broadens the radio’s interoperability with current radios and ensures compatibility with future radio platforms operating JTRS waveforms.”

Harris invested its own funds to port, integrate and validate SRW for fielding through the JTRS program Enterprise Business Model (EBM), in coordination with the JTRS Network Enterprise Domain.

The EBM encourages companies to invest their own capital to develop next-generation solutions in tactical communications that integrate JTRS waveform software. In doing so, the EBM stimulates competition, increases innovation, and reduces costs through software re-use.

The AN/PRC-117G has successfully demonstrated interoperability with multiple vendor platforms and capability to communicate real-time voice and data using SRW as part of the JTRS Interoperability Quicklook laboratory test.

The certification and fielding of SRW on the Harris’ AN/PRC-117G radio validates the ability of the JTRS Enterprise Business Model to promote increased competition and innovation within the defense tactical networking industry, which in turn allows greater flexibility and improved affordability in fielding of JTRS capabilities, JTRS program officials have said in the past.

The Harris Falcon III AN/PRC-117G is the first wideband manpack radio system with a JTRS-certified Software Communications Architecture and NSA Type-1 certified information security. Field-proven with more than 20,000 radios shipped, the AN/PRC-117G enables unprecedented situational awareness through wideband networking of the battlefield and delivering critical real-time information to warfighters on the move.

The AN/PRC-117G supports a growing number of network-enabled missions such as intelligence reporting and analysis, collaborative chat, route planning, medical evacuation, convoy tracking and checkpoint biometrics and was specifically designed to host advanced government waveforms.