The Pentagon, headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense. Photo: DoD.

The U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has awarded Raytheon and L3Harris each contracts to develop protected tactical waveform capable modems, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) announced March 27. Each has received a $500 million-ceiling, Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract with corresponding delivery orders valued at roughly $37.6 million for Raytheon, and roughly $30.6 million for L3Harris. 

Under the contract, the companies will research, develop, and produce protected tactical waveform capable modems for tactical satellite communication operations. Work is expected to be completed April 1, 2025. According to an SMC release, SMC teamed with the U.S. Army Program Executive Office Command Control Communications – Tactical, Product Manager Satellite Communications to execute the U.S. Air Force and Army Anti-Jam Modem (A3M) program. A3M directly supports Protected Tactical Satcom (PTS) and is a critical capability to increase anti-jam and communications capacity for joint tactical warfighters in contested environments. 

“We are very excited to be partnering with Raytheon and L3 Technologies Inc. to bring Protected Tactical Waveform anti-jam capability to both Department of the Air Force and Army users,” said Shannon Pallone, senior materiel leader of the Tactical Satcom Division. “This was a joint team from the start, a partnership between the Space Force and the Army, and included support from the [National Security Agency].”