Harris outfits Navy with shipboard Internet terminals

Harris Corp. will help Navy personnel at sea stay connected to home and handle routine activities online as a result of a follow-on order for 23 shipboard terminals worth $10.7 million.

The Navy order will give sailors access to the Internet, video and other high-speed, broadband services.

The terminals are part of the potential $77 million Commercial Broadband Satellite Program (CBSP) Unit Level Variant contract Harris won in 2008. Awards-to-date under the five-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract total $28.2 million, according to a company announcement today.

Through this follow-on order, Harris is supplying the Navy with 1.3-meter satellite communications terminals that offer both X- and Ku-band capabilities and support 10 times the bandwidth now available on Navy ships.

The new terminals will enable the Navy to augment military satellite communications by supporting essential mission requirements and providing high-speed Internet access and video communications on Unit Level class ships, the announcement said.

The CBSP program began as a Rapid Deployment Capability acquisition designed to reduce the time required to deliver critical or emerging warfighting capabilities.

The Satcom terminals will significantly enhance the Navy’s ability to provide the latest advances in broadband communications services to shipboard personnel, Allen Lindsay, vice president of Harris Defense Programs, said in the announcement.

Harris, of Melbourne, Fla., ranks No. 13 on Washington Technology’s 2009 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.