US Space Force Awards L3Harris Technologies $500 Million IDIQ Contract for Anti-Jam Satellite Communications Modem

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The U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has awarded L3Harris Technologies a five-year, $500 million ceiling, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract — with an initial delivery order of $30.6 million — for the Air Force and Army Anti-jam Modem (A3M). A3M provides the Department of the Air Force and Army with a secure, wideband, anti-jam satellite communications terminal modem for tactical satellite communication operations. The contract and order were received in the first quarter of 2020.

“With the proliferation and growing sophistication of threats in the electromagnetic spectrum, it has become increasingly important to enhance protected communications capabilities for the warfighter,” said Dana Mehnert, President, Communication Systems, L3Harris. “The A3M technology solution enhances the warfighter’s ability to communicate critical data by maintaining resilient and secure satellite communications in highly congested and contested environments that include the presence of adversarial jamming.”

L3Harris will collaborate with SMC for the design, development, fabrication, integration, certification and testing of Block 1 modems for use in the Air Force Ground Multiband Terminal and the Army Satellite Transportable Terminal. The jam-resistant modems support SMC’s Protected Tactical Waveform technology, an anti-jam capability operating on military satellite communication terminals through the Wideband Global Satcom constellation.

The L3Harris modems are optimized for high-rate production and are designed to become an integral part of the service’s growing Protected Anti-Jam Tactical Service enterprise. Several airborne and ground-based platforms and thousands of terminals across the Department of Defense have been identified as transition candidates to the Protected Tactical Waveform.