Competitors Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] said last week they have reached key achievements for the Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks & Enterprise Services (CANES), a key program designed to streamline the network of systems aboard ships.
Northrop Grumman said it has successfully completed the formal contractor system integration testing to verify it was meeting the program requirements for CANES and was ready for production.
“The rigorous testing verified the technology maturity and validated the effectiveness of our systems integration,” said Mike Twyman, vice president and general manager of Defense Systems Division for Northrop Grumman Information Systems.
Lockheed Martin said it had successfully tested its design to assess the degree to which the system satisfies the requirements for guided missile destroyers. The Navy plans to first install CANES on its Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) of destroyers, perhaps as early as 2012.
“This testing validates that our low-risk design, which meets the Navy’s stringent requirements for handling classified information, is robust and ready to integrate operational needs with a supportable, current product suite that can rapidly host existing and future applications,” said Joe Villani, the vice president of CANES for Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems & Sensors business.
The Navy is expected to award a limited deployment contract early next year.
The Navy views CANES as a key aspect in its move to embrace more open architecture technology, which is seen as more cost effective and easily upgradable. CANES is designed to integrate the Navy’s multiple legacy networks of command, control, computers, and intelligence (C4I) systems.
The consolidations could lower costs and maintenance requirements as the Navy has come to realize it cannot afford operating the legacy networks in their current state over the long term.