MELBOURNE, Fla., — L3Harris Technologies has completed U.S. Navy operational testing of its FleetLink communications system aboard an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer. The company announced the milestone on November 12, marking an important step in evaluating the system for wider Navy use.
FleetLink is a high-speed, modular radio system designed to replace aging Navy communications equipment. It combines multiple L3Harris radios and waveforms to process data from different sources and support secure communications across surface ships and submarines. The system also incorporates National Security Agency (NSA)-certified cryptographic capabilities to protect information exchanges.
“Interoperability is a foundational requirement for the Navy’s increasingly complex operations,” said Faisal Munir, president of Mission Critical Communications, Communications & Spectrum Dominance at L3Harris. He said the testing demonstrated how FleetLink performs under real-world conditions and supports secure surface and undersea communications.
Developed in 2023 under the Navy’s Scalable, Modular, Radio Cluster (SMRC) contract, FleetLink is available in three configurations:
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Four-channel high-frequency (HF) variant.
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Four-channel multi-band variant.
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Dedicated multi-band variant for submarines.
The system uses a common radio cluster architecture intended for both surface and undersea fleets. However, operational testing of the submarine configuration has not yet been scheduled.
The latest destroyer trials move FleetLink beyond its initial development stage. The Navy has not announced a final production decision or identified which ships will receive the system first. L3Harris has also not disclosed the SMRC contract's financial value or detailed testing results.
FleetLink is part of the U.S. Navy's broader effort to modernize maritime communications and improve interoperability between its surface and submarine forces.
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