The criticality of robust, secure lines of tactical communication in military operations is of increasing importance – and L3Harris Technologies has developed a new waveform to both counter current and future electronic warfare attacks and protect tactical lines of communication.
First-of-its-kind MANET waveform
Wraith™ is a first-of-its-kind frequency-hopping Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) waveform for wideband voice and data with advanced, multi-layer anti-jam capabilities to support multi-domain interoperability.
“Wraith provides wireless IP connectivity directly to the warfighter, facilitating common, real-time access to critical information for mobile, dismount and command units at the tactical edge,” Dana Mehnert, president of L3Harris Communications Systems, said. “This new low-Size, Weight and Power waveform protects and allows soldiers to maintain mission-critical communications with significantly improved anti-jam capabilities.”
Wraith is the latest offering in L3Harris’ full suite of anti-jam and resilient waveforms that provide connectivity for ground-to-ground, ground-to-air, air-to-air, Beyond Line of Sight and other applications. These resilient waveforms use advanced techniques to protect and reduce the effectiveness of electronic warfare attack and detection activities that can expose friendly forces to targeting, interception and jamming.
“The risk of operating in a communications-denied or -congested environment will become the new norm against near-peer adversaries,” Chris Aebli, president of L3Harris Tactical Communications, said. “L3Harris has taken lessons learned across many military exercises to maintain NATO allies’ mission-critical communications in the presence of sophisticated electronic warfare threats.”
Robust, Survivable, Scalable
Wraith provides true resiliency with an intuitive and easy-to-use configuration for expedited planning and deployment. With a simple software upgrade to a radio, users will be able to continuously evolve against emerging electronic threats.
The software-defined architecture allows for easy software upgrades on L3Harris’ Falcon® IV family of radios. Wraith operates on a standard kit, with no specialty hardware required, and offers an intuitive human-machine interface and a common look and feel across the Falcon IV line.
The self-forming, self-managing Wraith network provides wireless high-capacity data connectivity to users, enabling real-time applications, such as video surveillance, target and ground reporting and command and control for information superiority.
Voice is maintained on a dedicated channel, providing simultaneous secure digital voice and data capabilities with guaranteed access to critical voice communications regardless of network capacity or IP application demands.
Wraith supports emerging scalability requirements and offers distinct talk groups in a single network. It can extend for kilometers while supporting multiple voice streams during contested tactical-edge missions.
“It’s L3Harris’ mission to continually provide increased capability closer to the tactical edge,” said Melissa Daminski, L3Harris senior product management director. “Our design goals for Wraith were to create a waveform capable of supplying high capacity and throughput across the battlespace while withstanding jamming attacks from some of the most capable Electronic Warfare systems. We leveraged our decades of expertise in designing and deploying EW systems to militaries across the world to ensure we built a waveform that is truly resilient today and tomorrow.”