The United States Marine Corps has awarded Harris Corporation a contract to replace its existing radio systems throughout Eastern Region U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) bases and other locations.

Harris received an initial $6 million order in the third quarter of the company's fiscal year 2013 to design and deploy radio systems at four bases in North Carolina and Georgia.

The full contract has a potential value of more than $16 million and includes system design and deployment, equipment, managed services, maintenance and other options.

The new Harris system will leverage the latest standards-based digital technology and allow first responders to communicate and coordinate efforts more easily with neighboring civilian agencies than the existing analog-based solution.

The new radio system is based upon Project 25 technology standards and Harris' VIDA® network, which delivers powerful network management tools using a modern IP (Internet Protocol) architecture.