January 8, 2020 | International, C4ISR
$100M contract awarded to upgrade special ops comms
By: Chiara Vercellone WASHINGTON — U.S. Special Operations Command has awarded L3Harris Technologies a $100 million contract to upgrade about 550 satellite ground stations that support military command, control and communications, according to a Jan. 6 news release. Under the five-year contract, L3Harris will provide software and hardware to maintain and upgrade the Hawkeye III Lite very small aperture terminals, or VSAT. “This agreement extends the service life of our customer's existing terminals and highlights the priority USSOCOM places on ensuring their deployed users are equipped with the latest in VSAT technology,” said Chris Aebli, president of global communication systems at L3Harris Technologies. For its part, the U.S. Army has received 4,000 Hawkeye systems to date. In 2017, L3Harris delivered 46 Hawkeye III Lite VSATs to the U.S. Air National Guard's Joint Incident Site Communications Capability teams and trained personnel to facilitate direct communications with the satellite terminals. In 2019, USSOCOM awarded L3Harris an $86 million contract as part of a $390 million program that started in 2015 for handheld tactical radios that can be used with multiple channels for special forces. https://www.c4isrnet.com/industry/2020/01/07/l3harris-receives-100m-contract-to-upgrade-special-ops-communication-capabilities/