ROCHESTER, N.Y., 11 May 2006. The Harris Corp. RF Communications division in Rochester, N.Y., won a contract from Northrop Grumman Corp. to provide its Sierra II Type 1 encryption solution for the U.S. Army's Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below-Blue Force Tracking (FBCB2-BFT) Type 1 COMSEC Upgrade Program.
The initial value of the contract to the company is approximately $5 million, with a total potential value of $70 million over five years. The Harris Sierra II solution will secure critical data transmissions transmitted via satellite for use by land forces.
Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector is the FBCB2 system integrator and is under contract to the U.S. Army Communications-Electronic Command at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Northrop Grumman provides the FBCB2 software that runs on a variety of mounted and dismounted computing hardware platforms.
FBCB2's satellite communications-based tracking technique, called Blue Force Tracking, automatically displays the soldier's position relative to friendly forces, and reports the positions of enemy troops, threats, and hazards. FBCB2-BFT shares situational awareness information among combat and support vehicles on computers mounted in more than 40 different Army vehicle types. A roof-mounted transponder/receiver is used to transmit data via satellite to headquarters and to other platforms.
"Blue Force Tracking technology came of age during operations in Iraq, and will provide superior performance on the battlefield as it expands the available data to allies and coalition partners," says Dick Rzepkowski, Harris RF Communications Division vice president, Government Systems and Programs. "Sierra II met Northrop Grumman's need for a timely and cost-effective solution for the FBCB2 program.
For more information contact Harris RF online at www.harris.com.
