Kratos Partners with Harris to Bring Advanced Hand Held Radios to the Warfighter

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a leading National Security Solutions provider, announced today that its Kratos RT Logic subsidiary has licensed its Common Data Link (CDL) waveforms to Harris Corporation for use in Harris’ nanoSVDL radios.  The radio is part of Harris’ five-year, $130 million, single-award IDIQ from the U.S. Air Force to develop and deliver Hand Held Video Data Link (HH-VDL) radios supporting video data links (VDL) and real-time intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) communications in congested and contested tactical environments.

Fully integrated into the programmable radios, Kratos’ next generation tactical communication waveforms receive and process real-time ISR information and full-motion video sent from airborne platforms— such as UAVs— as well as other sources to warfighters on the ground. The waveforms enhance interoperability, enabling the mobile network to connect ground, airborne and naval forces via multiple tactical host platforms. Security features for data protection and jamming resistance are inherent to the software-defined waveforms which include Bandwidth Efficient Common Data Link (BE CDL), Standard CDL, Vortex Native Waveform (VNW), Tactical Data Link (TDL), 466-Extended Range (ER) and other tactical waveforms.

“Kratos was selected as our partner because they proved operational use of the BE-CDL waveform as part of the USMC Secure Common Data Link (CDL) Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) radio and they have been providing verification of waveforms for all CDL radios through their CDL test set for several years,” stated Harris’ Ryan McCarty, Vice President of DoD Sales. He continued, “We are pleased to partner with Kratos on several DoD Force Modernization efforts to provide high performance handheld radios for the ground warfighter. Within 12-18 months, users will begin fielding the Harris/Kratos solutions, including both a Next Generation Handheld Mission Module and a standalone Video Data Link radio.”

“Harris Communication Systems and Kratos are natural partners for providing superior tactical communications solutions,” said Jerry Meleski, Kratos’ Vice-President of Tactical Networks and Communications. “The ever-changing tactical threat landscape demands agile and affordable tactical communications technology to gain the upper hand. Harris’ proven handheld radios combined with our modernized tactical waveforms deliver unprecedented advantages to our warfighters.”