General Dynamics (GD) Mission Systems and Rockwell Collins have delivered more than 1,200 AN/PRC-155 manpack radios to US Army soldiers, in a bid to provide them with digital connecting-points for vital communications with their commanders.
The delivery forms part of a follow-on low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract placed in January 2014 for 1,500 radios. The remaining units will be delivered during the first quarter of this year.
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Designed to improve mission success rates, the PRC-155 radios allow soldiers and their commanders to share information and collaborate locally and globally through the warfighter information network -tactical (WIN-T) increment 2.
GD Mission Systems president Chris Marzilli said: "The two-channel PRC-155 keeps soldiers consistently and securely connected to the tactical communications grid from anywhere.
"This is also the only US Army tactical radio to provide the digital connections that army organisations need to stay in touch, one to another, from just about anywhere on the planet."
Developed to enhance situational awareness for better decision-making, the radio will ensure that troops have access to life-saving voice and data communications on the battlefield.
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By GlobalDataCertified by the National Security Agency to provide classified voice and data at the top secret level and below, the radio provides line-of-sight, beyond-line-of-sight and high-bandwidth waveforms for on-the-move voice, sensor, data and position-location capabilities on soldiers or in vehicles.
It is capable of supporting all three of the army’s non-proprietary networking waveforms, including the soldier radio waveform, wideband networking waveform and the mobile-user objective system.
Upon the completion of the follow-on LRIP production order, the US Army will have more than 5,300 PRC-155 units.
The first $56.4m LRIP contract was placed in July 2011 for an initial batch of 100 radios, followed by a second $306m agreement for 3,726 two-channel manpack radios in November 2012.
