L3Harris has secured a new order to upgrade the US Marine Corps’ satellite communications terminals, enhancing data throughput and enabling multi-orbit connectivity in support of Joint All-Domain Command and Control goals. The order includes upgrades to Panther 2 man-portable terminals and Ku-band transceivers, increasing output power to 25 watts. Panther 2 is a tri-band terminal designed for rapid deployment: one Marine can set it up in under 10 minutes. Its modular architecture supports interchangeable antennas and frequency modules, and it integrates a passively cooled modem with both web-based and panel-based controls. Depending on configuration, the system weighs 63–74 pounds, with the lightest version under 34 pounds. The upgrades fall under the MCWS-X program, which L3Harris has supported since 2020. MCWS-X provides man-portable, multi-waveform SATCOM capabilities for dispersed units, offering resilient voice, data, and video communications.
