CANES tech will propel future Navy networks afloat
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The Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services project will standardize and consolidate systems the Navy’s afloat network.
The Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command picked five vendors this week to build its next generation tactical afloat network, dubbed CANES for Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services.
The companies, including BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services; General Dynamics C4 Systems; Global Technical Systems; Northrop Grumman Systems; and Serco, were each awarded an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity, firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. The cumulative value of the multiple award contract is $2.5 billion.
The Navy says CANES represents a new business model for delivering capabilities to the fleet. The project consolidates five legacy networks into one, which the Navy said “enhances operational effectiveness and provides better quality of life for deployed sailors.”
CANES will also act as the Navy’s bridge to its future ship-based networks, providing the infrastructure for applications, systems and services to operate in the tactical domain.
CANES will facilitate upgrades of cybersecurity, command and control, communications and intelligence (C4I) systems across its fleet. The increased standardization will also reduce the number of network variants the Navy operates by ship class, according to the Navy announcement.
"The operating systems that exist today on some of those legacy networks are not sustainable,” Rear Adm. Christian Becker, PEO C4I, said in a statement. “CANES allows us to deploy current operating systems and then upgrade or stay current with future changes to those operating systems in a more cost effective and timely way,” he added.
For the next eight years, the ordering period for the contract, the Navy will tap industry and government expertise to deliver multiple CANES hardware and software baselines “in the most affordable means available.”
CANES installations have already been successfully completed on nine destroyers, the Navy said. Installations continue on three carriers, one amphibious assault ship, eight destroyers, one landing dock ship and one cruiser. An additional 28 installations are planned throughout FY 2015 and FY 2016.
To date, the program's system maturity is based on performance measures and test data from almost 12,000 hours of test time. CANES will ultimately be deployed to 180 ships, submarines and Maritime Operations Centers by 2022.
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