Pentagon OKs Navy Shipboard NetworkPentagon OKs Navy Shipboard Network

The Navy's plan to build a consolidated IP network across ships and onshore networks is moving ahead after meeting key requirements for Pentagon approval.

The Secretary of Defense has evaluated the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprises Services (CANES) project and found it will meet acquisition criteria for affordability, controlling cost growth, and fostering competition, according to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. In official Navy terms, the project has met Milestone B Approval and has entered the engineering and manufacturing development phase of its lifecycle.

The Navy will now go ahead and develop the system -- complete with systems integration -- as well as develop an affordable and viable manufacturing process for the system. Project leaders also will demonstrate the integration, interoperability, safety, and utility of the project.

The Navy expects to achieve 8.1% financial return on investment with CANES, according to the command. Benefits the military expects to achieve include increased operational capability, performance, situational awareness, and security.

Last March, the Navy awarded Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman contracts that could potentially total $1.75 billion to develop CANES. The network will replace five Navy legacy shipboard systems and outdated computers with a modern, common IP network that will span both Navy ships and onshore operations centers.

Virtualization and cloud computing are among the technologies the Navy plans to utilize in the new system, which will provide a common computing environment for command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence applications that currently run on disparate systems.

The Navy plans to begin installing the network next year on unit-level ships with two engineering-development models of CANES. The initial deployment will be followed by limited deployments on force-level ships, onshore operations centers, and unit-level ships. By 2021, the Navy expects that more than 190 ships, submarines, and Marine Operations Centers will be outfitted with the network.