Schumer Announces Rochester’s L3harris Awarded $84 Million U.S. ARMY Purchase Order to MAKE NEW Radios

Senator Fought So L3Harris Could Compete For Major Military Contracts And Army Has Since Then Been Able To Purchase Thousands Of Cutting-Edge Radios From Rochester Company Schumer: Contract Is A Win For Our National Security, L3Harris, And Rochester’s Economy U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today announced L3Harris Technologies in Rochester has been selected by the U.S. Army to manufacture Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) manpack Falcon ® systems under an $84 million purchase order. “Once again, the U.S. Army has turned to the right frequency and chosen Rochester’s top-notch workforce to help maintain American military excellence and keep our troops safe. The U.S. Army’s $84 million award shows that it recognizes what I have long known: L3Harris radios are leading in cutting-edge radio technology innovation and essential to providing our warfighters a key tactical advantage on the battlefield,” said Senator Schumer. “I have fought for years to make companies like L3Harris competitive for government contracts so we can create good-paying local jobs. I will continue fighting for investments that protect our national security while boosting Rochester’s local manufacturers and economy.” “Our high-volume, Rochester-based production lines continue to deliver critical capability into the hands of our armed forces to meet the demands of their vital missions,” said Chris Aebli, President of L3Harris’ Mission Critical Communications business. “We employ more than 3,600 residents of Monroe County and surrounding areas, all of whom are committed to innovating and providing leading-edge technology for the American warfighter. We are grateful for Senator Schumer’s continued support of our workforce and the critical technology we are delivering to soldiers.” Schumer has a long history of prolonged pushes for an even playing field to give companies like L3Harris, previously Harris Corporation, a fair shot at competing for these defense contracts and bringing innovative work to Rochester, which culminated in the Army selecting Harris in 2015 for the Army’s multi-year $3.9 billion IDIQ handheld Leader radio contract (formerly named the “Rifleman radio”) and in 2016 for the Army’s $12.7 billion IDIQ Manpack radio contract. L3Harris’ win to manufacture radios for the Army under these two multi-billion-dollar contracts followed years of work by Schumer to reverse the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD) then-proposed plan to award these contracts to just one company through a sole-source, single-vendor procurement process. Schumer said the single-vendor selection process would have created an unfair playing field for all vendors, including Harris, to compete, and fought to ensure that a fully open, multi-year, multi-vendor, and competitive acquisition process was instituted, so all manufacturers, including L3Harris, would have a level playing field to compete to win these contracts. Schumer argued that the competition from a fully competitive, multi-vendor process would ensure taxpayers get the best-priced radios and the military gets the most secure, capable, and technologically advanced radios. Since Schumer launched his tireless efforts to even the playing field for L3Harris and other companies, L3Harris has gone on to win not only several contracts for the Army, but several multi-billion dollar awards to also manufacture radios and tactical communications systems for the Marine Corps, SOCOM, and our partners and allies such as Ukraine. L3Harris was selected by the U.S. Army to manufacture thousands of Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit (HMS) radios under a contract worth $300 million last year and an additional 4,000+ radios under a contract worth $196 million in 2023 . In 2022, L3Harris was selected by the Marine Corps to manufacture Falcon IV® Multi-Channel Hand Held (MCHH) radios under a contract worth up to $750 million . In 2021, L3Harris was selected by the Army to produce more than 4,000 Leader Radios and Manpack Radios under a $345 million contract that was also part of the multi-vendor Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts Schumer announced in 2016. In 2020, Schumer announced that L3Harris had been awarded $95 million , in addition to the $50 million he announced in 2019 , to manufacture Manpack radios for the U.S. Army. In addition, Schumer in 2019 fought for major boosts in the bipartisan omnibus spending package that included $510.7 million for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to help continue building the agency’s next flagship telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), that is being constructed in part by L3Harris in Rochester, with the company building key components like the Telescope and two Aft Optics Assemblies. In November of 2018, Schumer visited Rochester to advocate for this crucial funding for the Roman Space Telescope , and one month later announced that Harris Corp., now L3Harris, had been awarded a $195.9 million contract from NASA to continue the project. L3Harris completed the telescope and delivered it to NASA in November 2024. The telescope is now being integrated and tested at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and is scheduled to launch the telescope into space by May 2027. ###