L3Harris Prepares for Demo Phase of Military and Commercial Satellite Communication Links

L3Harris Technologies, one of the contractors of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet program, said it is planning a late 2025 flight testing of its newly developed communications terminal integrating military-owned and commercial constellations on a military aircraft. 

AFRL initiated the program in 2018 to harness commercial satellite internet service providers for military communications. L3Harris holds several DEUCSI contracts valued at $170 million, which calls for deliveries of 23 fixed-ground terminals, two mobile ground systems and five aircraft-based systems, SpaceNews reported Friday.

L3Harris has developed for the program a modular radio called Rapidly Adaptable Standards-compliant Open Radio featuring modems that link with several commercial satellite internet service providers and dedicated military networks.  

Ron Fehlen, L3Harris vice president of assured mission networks, said the modems’ integration into a single radio platform compliant with military security protocols “has been an enormous technical challenge.” The L3Harris RASOR radio platform operates through a flexible open architecture designed for routine updates on new capabilities, Fehlen disclosed. 

The platform is already operational and has been sold for customer development activities outside DEUCSI, according to L3Harris, which did not provide further details. In April 2023, General Atomics used an L3Harris-built RASOR multi-functional processor in a flight demonstration of its MQ-20 Avenger unmanned aircraft system.

After the 2025 RASOR flight demo, the company said it will test the system’s ground-based terminals in 2026. The platform ultimately seeks to provide communication access from a network of multi-orbit, multi-constellation terminals to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Space Force.

Other contractors working on the AFRL’s DEUCSI project include Northrop Grumman, which has Viasat as its partner, and SES Space & Defense, which has subcontracted a network creation task to Hughes Network Systems.