Pentagon approves Navy plan to develop shipboard network

The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command said yesterday its $1.5 billion program to develop a new shipboard network passed a key acquisition milestone and received Pentagon approval to move from technology development to engineering and manufacturing development.

SPAWAR awarded Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. competitive contracts for its Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services last March and said it has met key cost and schedule criteria to move on to engineering and manufacturing development, milestone B in the acquisition process.

"This is an extremely significant acquisition milestone for the CANES program as it validates technology maturity, stable requirements and a fully funded program," said Navy Capt. D.J. LeGoff, program manager for the SPAWAR Tactical Networks Program Office.

LeGoff said the next step for CANES is to demonstrate the systems that Lockheed and Northrop developed in an operational environment.

Steven Davis, a SPAWAR spokesman, said the command plans to select a single CANES contractor in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011, which ends in September, to build four systems that will be tested in a shore lab and on ships.

The Navy plans to install the network on at least 275 ships, replacing in some cases decade-old systems with an integrated common computer environment.