- The orders will support the service branch’s command and control operations
- LOCODA reuses existing Army vehicle installation kits
- The radio supports anti-jam, MANET and SINCGARS waveforms
L3Harris Technologies will deliver its low-cost data, or LOCODA, radio system to the U.S. Army under several production orders valued at $121 million combined.
The Melbourne, Florida-based company said Monday the systems will help the service meet its command and control, or C2, requirements.
How Will LOCODA Support Army Command and Control?
LOCODA draws on installation kits the Army already has, letting L3Harris rapidly field an upgraded version of vehicle communications, according to Chris Aebli, president of Communications & Spectrum Dominance at L3Harris.
Aebli said the platform gives battlefield commanders access to Army C2 applications through several transport options, and operators need little training to use it.
“The program leverages existing installation kits and enables them to support new and emerging requirements, saving the Army time and money while delivering a more powerful capability than previously fielded,” Aebli said.
L3Harris added that it continues to offer mission-specific data and voice options for Army units operating at the tactical edge.
Separately in June, the Army selected the Thales Radio Adaptable Transport, or RAT, platform for its LOCODA tactical communications modernization initiative and ordered more than 5,000 systems through Thales Defense & Security. According to Thales, its LOCODA RAT platform delivers secure voice and data communications while reducing installation and integration requirements.
What Are the LOCODA Radio System’s Features?
The radio is built to handle both narrowband and wideband waveforms, the company said. It also provides anti-jam features; waveforms designed for a low probability of intercept and detection; mobile ad hoc network, or MANET, waveforms; and the single channel ground and airborne radio system, or SINCGARS.
MANET technology figures in other recent L3Harris work. The company’s Wraith waveform, a multichannel MANET offering hosted on Falcon IV radios, is intended to guard voice and data traffic against jamming in harsh environments. In October, L3Harris paired Wraith and Falcon IV radios with Skydio’s X10D drone to provide a dependable C2 link between the aircraft and its operator in combat grounds.
What Other Army Communications Work Has L3Harris Secured?
In January 2025, the Army issued L3Harris a $300 million purchase order for thousands of handheld, manpack and small form fit, or HMS, radios. The order fell under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, or IDIQ, contract worth up to $12.7 billion over 10 years, which the Army awarded in 2016 to the company, then known as Harris, and two other vendors.
In June 2025, the service booked a $487.3 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with L3Harris covering modernization of enterprise terminals and depots, along with engineering services support. Work on the MET DESS deal runs through June 2030.
L3Harris also acquired REDCOM Laboratories’ Sigma C2 software and Sigma XRI hardware in January 2025 for use in certain command, control, computers, communications, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or C5ISR, systems. The purchase included upward of 125 Sigma XRI-400 platforms that carry radio over internet protocol, or RoIP.
