Harris Completes Another Advanced EHF Navy Multiband Terminal Milestone

SAN DIEGO and MELBOURNE, Fla., Feb. 5, 2007/Satnews Daily/ ― Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) said it has successfully completed another major milestone in a $1 billion U.S. Navy communications program competition: logging onto a Milstar satellite using an Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Navy Multiband Terminal prototype system onboard a platform that simulates submarine conditions.

With this milestone, Harris said, it has successfully demonstrated low data rate (LDR), medium data rate (MDR) and extended data rate (XDR) logon for the various ship and shore terminals -- including submarine mast and periscope versions -- under simulated platform motion consistent with high-sea states. It added the successful demonstrations are the culmination of three years of waveform design and hardware/software development as part of the AEHF Navy Multiband Terminal program.

“We are very pleased with this successful test as we continue to demonstrate our AEHF Navy Multiband Terminal's LDR, MDR and XDR communications capabilities,” said Sheldon Fox, vice president and general manager of Department of Defense Programs, Harris Government Communications Systems Division. “Harris has successfully demonstrated logon, uplink and downlink capabilities with the Milstar 6 satellite ahead of schedule, and the Harris AEHF Navy Multiband Terminal team is poised for successful completion prior to the upcoming PT1 milestone in March.”

An SCA 2.2.1-compliant software programmable modem developed by Harris was instrumental in all successful demonstrations. Logons to the Milstar satellite were performed at the Harris Naval SATCOM Integration and Test Facility in Palm Bay, Florida, utilizing a KGV-136, the newest generation cryptographic unit, Harris said. The SATCOM Integration and Test Facility is part of the company's advanced Net-centric Test Bed.

Harris won a contract in 2003 to develop four prototypes for the next- generation AEHF Navy Multiband Terminal. The U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command is scheduled to perform a competitive downselect and issue a contract in June 2007 for the engineering development model phase of the program.

The NMT Phase 1 Program is a 43-month effort to design and develop prototype Q-band SATCOM submarine, shipboard and shore terminals in support of the U.S. Navy's FORCEnet concept. Additional phases will add high-performance Ka- and X-band capabilities to the common terminal. The resulting system will replace current single- and dual-band terminals, yielding significant lifecycle cost reductions and improved reliability.

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