New Falcon III RF-300S, Built on Harris JTRS Technology, Delivers Voice and Situational Awareness to Individual Warfighters in a Lightweight Military-Grade Package

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- (LandWarNet booth #303) Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS), an international communications and information technology company, is exhibiting the Falcon III(R) RF-300S, a lightweight, wearable tactical radio designed for the U.S. Department of Defense, at the LandWarNet conference August 19-21, 2008.

The RF-300S delivers voice and situational awareness to the individual warfighter, and will allow the U.S. military to upgrade squad-level communications with rugged, high-performance, software-defined, military-grade radios with built-in GPS. The RF-300S is designed to address the emerging requirements of the U.S. Department of Defense, such as the Rifleman Radio program.

The RF-300S will provide the individual warfighter with wideband data and situational awareness in addition to narrowband voice capabilities. The radio runs the APCO Project 25 (P25) waveform, allowing secure interoperability with currently deployed squad radios. It also operates the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) and the Harris Advanced Wideband Networking Waveform (ANW2) for networked tactical communications. The operating environment in the RF-300S is based on the Software Communications Architecture delivered in Harris Corporation's widely fielded Falcon III line of tactical radios.

The RF-300S is secured using the Suite-B algorithms, including AES for encryption, allowing interoperability with other Suite-B enabled communication products. Properly implemented Suite-B algorithms can provide protection of information up through the classified SECRET level in a non-cryptographic controlled item (CCI) environment, eliminating the need for every soldier to have a security clearance. Harris plans to submit the RF-300S to the U.S. Government for evaluation for use in non-CCI, Secret and below applications.

'The Falcon III RF-300S will deliver new levels of voice and high-bandwidth data connectivity to the entire squad,' said George Helm, vice president and general manager, U.S. Government Products, Harris RF Communications. 'By combining P25 and the Soldier Radio Waveform, the radio offers great operational flexibility, ease of migration as standards change, and interoperability. Interoperability with currently deployed narrowband radios is critical to allow a smooth transition to a networked force until adequate spectrum is available to support a large number of users.'

The radio covers a frequency range of 225 MHz to 470 MHz.