SCHUMER ANNOUNCES ROCHESTER’S L3HARRIS AWARDED $300 MILLION U.S. ARMY PURCHASE ORDER TO MAKE THOUSANDS OF NEW RADIOS

Senator Fought So L3Harris Could Compete For Major Military Contracts And Army Continues To Purchase Cutting-Edge Radios From Rochester Company

Schumer: New Contract Is A Win-Win-Win For L3Harris, Rochester-Finger Lakes Workforce & The U.S. Army

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today announced L3Harris Technologies in Rochester has been selected by the U.S. Army to manufacture thousands of Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit (HMS) radios under a $300,000,000 Firm Fixed Price (FFP) award as part of multi-vendor Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts that Schumer announced in 2016.

"The U.S. Army has tuned to the right frequency and once again recognized what I have long known: that Rochester's L3Harris is leading in cutting-edge radio technology innovation and its workforce is ready to help maintain American military excellence and keep our troops safe in the field. This $300 million award is the latest in a series of defense contracts over the last decade that shows the U.S. Army realizes that L3Harris radios are essential to providing our warfighters a key tactical advantage on the battlefield," said Senator Schumer. "This new contract will support good-paying jobs here in Rochester, support our troops and those of US allies and partners, and give a boost to the entire Finger Lakes economy. I was proud to work hard on behalf of this world-class manufacturer of radios and will always fight for investments that both protect our troops and provide major support for the Rochester-Finger Lakes economy."

"Our Falcon® IV Family of Radios, which are part of the Army's HMS program, deliver highly resilient capabilities that enable communications-on-the-move operations that are vital in defending our national interests against adversarial nations. We appreciate Senator Schumer's continued support of New York's high-technology workforce and in providing critical solutions that help protect the lives of American soldiers," said Sam Mehta, President, L3Harris Communication Systems.

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-vender 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.

In 2023, L3Harris was selected by the U.S. Army to manufacture 4,000+ Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit (HMS) radios under a contract worth $196 million. 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. L3-Harris 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.

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