The Navy’s fourth report to the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on efforts to incorporate open architecture (OA) demonstrated that for the period of July through September, the service focused on how surface combat systems upgrades can be done rapidly and with lower costs.
To make surface combat systems more affordable, “a transformation from building large end-to-end, stove-piped, platform-centric systems towards cross-platform capabilities is essential. An evolutionary approach will enable incremental improvements through a Rapid Capability Insertion Process, and foster innovation from an increased number of sources,” Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy, research, development and acquisition, told SASC members in the November 2008 report.
Stackley noted that the Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) has begun to put together a competitive path for the Aegis combat system.
“The Navy is producing fully-documented, government-defined specifications and class specific data for Aegis Weapons Systems modular interfaces,” Stackley wrote.
“The Government will have access to the objects and component descriptions, and interface definitions at the Aegis Advanced Capability Build (ACB) 12 Critical Design Review to be held in fiscal year 2010 (currently planned for November 2009),” Stackley said. “This information will be used to support competition for the objects and components in follow- on ACBs (ACB14). After delivery, testing and certification of the ACB 12 software programs, the documented design baseline will be available for future Aegis Platform System Engineering Agent (PSEA) competitions.”
Competition for both the Aegis and Ship Self Defense System (SSDS) is planned to begin in FY ’12, according to the report.
Lockheed Martin [LMT] builds the Aegis combat system. Raytheon [RTN] manufactures SSDS.
The PSEA is responsible for end-to-end combat system performance; systems engineering configuration control, testing, training and logistics; integrating components developed and/or modified by other contractors and technical support of in-service ships, according to the report.
The surface Navy is also competing hardware, Stackley pointed out. “The Common Display System (CDS) and Common Processing System (CPS) programs provide core display and processing systems in support of the common objective architecture for combat systems. The CDS contract was competitively awarded in November 2007 while the CPS Request for Proposal was released in March 2008. Government selection will be announced this upcoming quarter.”
In September, the Open Architecture Enterprise Team (OAET) began updating the naval OA Strategy to reflect the progress made to date and the priorities of Navy leadership, Stackley said.
The strategy is comprised of three overarching goals addressing the business, technical, and cultural aspects of OA transformation, the report noted.
Among the accomplishments noted in the Navy’s fourth OA report:
In July 2008, the OA Lead Council developed a series of OA criteria elements for integration into the Probability of Program Success (PoPS) program evaluation tool. In January 2008, Secretary of the Navy Notice (SECNAVNOTE) 5000 designated PoPS as the mechanism for reviewing program health. PoPS uses a set of program factors and metrics to evaluate program health during five phases: Planning, Pre-Milestone (MS) B, Post-MS B, Post-MS C, and Sustainment. Over 60 percent of the OA criteria were integrated within PoPS and the remaining criteria elements are being considered for inclusion in the overall core input for gate reviews.
PEO IWS, in collaboration with the OAET, has begun the process for updating the OA Contract Guidebook. During the next quarter, “lessons learned” will be solicited and incorporated based upon experiences using the guidebook. PEO Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I), in collaboration with Space and Naval Warfare Systems (SPAWAR) Contracts Department, is developing a logical decision tree that will assist program managers and contracting officers in determining appropriate contract data rights and OA language for incorporation into solicitations. PEO C4I is also developing standard contract language that can be used in acquiring services associated with Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). SOA is an approach for building systems that allows organizations to leverage existing assets and support the evolution of these systems to meet changing requirements.
In June 2008, ASN RDA directed that a Systems Engineering Technical Review (SETR) process be applied within the Navy. The Air Domain, under sponsorship of the OAET, is defining an OA checklist that will be included as part of the Navy SETR process. This OA checklist will provide a consistent and repeatable process across the System Commands for OA Technical Authorities to conduct formal SETR program reviews. It is planned that the checklist will be submitted to the ASN RDA Chief Systems Engineer for consideration by March 2009.
In July 2008, the Navy published the System Design Specification (SDS) Guidebook, which included OA language. The SDS Guidebook assists program management organizations in the incorporation of Naval Open Systems Architecture Principles into program designs. SECNAVNOTE 5000 requires that a SDS be prepared for each program and presented for approval as part of the DON requirements and acquisition process.
PEOs C4I and IWS are collaboratively developing a federated search capability to support software reuse repositories. The initial implementation of the federated search web service will allow a single search that accesses both the PEO C4I Net-Centric Enterprise Solutions for Interoperability (NESI) Collaboration Site and the PEO IWS SHARE repository. Results to date against a known database indicate that the search service is producing the expected results. The capability was fielded in October 2008.
Received 12 requests for assets and processed three (July through September 2008). To date, 290 total requests for SHARE assets have been made; 157 have been fulfilled, 31 requests are outstanding, and 102 requests have been withdrawn.
The OA version of the Aegis Display System (ADS) has been made available as the Display System Open Architecture (DSOA). DSOA provides an initial display capability for Aegis Training Center Build 2 ADS for Cruiser Modification Aegis Warfare System (CGMOD AWS), and establishes a foundation upon which additional components or functions can be developed that map to the surface enterprise common display architecture.
During this period, 58 individuals completed the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) OA continuous learning module, raising the total since its inception to 673.
An additional six people completed the two-day OA Course offered by DAU and the C4I Domain.