24 July 2020
Business Development Manager, Mark Pezaro, said the 100 per cent defence-focused company supplies products for radar and electronic warfare systems across all defence domains – land, sea and air.
'It’s unusual for a company to design and produce RF and photonics products, but by doing so we have established ourselves as an essential partner to defence industry and are well known with global defence primes,' Mr Pezaro said.
When L3Harris first decided to diversify geographically, the company engaged with the CDIC for assistance.
'We were already supplying Australian defence industry and had achieved our first program export sales to the USA but wanted to start exporting more widely to international primes,' Mr Pezaro said.
'The CDIC and their Global Supply Chain program provided the introductions, workshops and training which were key to achieving our international growth.'
With the help of a CDIC business adviser, L3Harris improved the presentation of their capabilities being offered to the defence industry, a valuable technique to expand presence both domestically and internationally.
'They helped us apply to the Defence Innovation Hub to obtain funding for engineering research and development activities in support of our work with Defence.'
Today L3Harris works on the F-35 program with Lockheed Martin via Northrop Grumman, and with Raytheon on the ESSM Block 2 program, as well as supplying a number of other components into the USA.
'We export wideband RF receivers to Raytheon’s SAS Division,' Mr Pezaro said. 'These are used in the Radar Warning Receiver systems known as ALR67(v)3 and ALR69A, and over 3000 units have been shipped so far. And an IF receiver has been designed by L3Harris for integration into the ESSM Block 2 upgrade being carried out by Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson.'
'L3Harris will soon begin supplying to Northrop Grumman as a second source for an L-Band Switch Filter which is deployed in the F-35 radar system.'
L3Harris has experienced rapid growth since joining L3 Technologies in 2016 and is looking for a number of new staff to expand their 90 strong workforce.
'Our mission today is to lead the way in information warfare in Australia – becoming part of L3 Technologies has given us that capability.'
Mr Pezaro suggests Australian businesses seek as much support as they can from programs like the CDIC. 'It’s a competitive marketplace, so having networks and contacts is important. Working with Defence is a real commitment in terms of time, money and resources. If you do it well it can be very rewarding.'