French Navy’s RIFAN IP Networking Moves to Phase 2
May 23, 2010 13:58 UTC by Defense Industry Daily staff
(click to view – Francais)
France’s RIFAN Operation stage 1 (Réseau IP de la Force AeroNavale) equipped 46 ships and 6 nuclear attack submarines with an IP-based, broadband networking capability. Over the next 5 years, the EUR 240 million RIFAN stage 2 phase aims to roll the full framework out to the entire fleet: 116 ships, plus helicopters, and naval patrol aircraft. It will also set up up key back-end management capabilities.
RIFAN is part of the French Marine’s overall Information and Combat System effort, and will be operated by DIRISI (Direction Interarmées des Réseaux d’Infrastructure et des Systèmes d’Information). It allows broadband information exchange between onboard business applications, is open to onboard staff information systems, and covers all levels of security from unclassified to NATO classified. The net effect is to create an intranet for the fleet. On the back end, RIFAN stage 2 will reportedly allow CMR (Capacité de Management de Réseau) supervision and management for the complete network of ships and aircraft from 2 land-based sites…
Contracts & Key Events
(click to view – Francais)
May 19/10: EADS announces that RIFAN Stage 2′s preliminary design phase is complete, and that prime contractor EADS Defence & Security and co-contractors DCNS and Rohde & Schwarz have received the French DGA’s go-ahead to implement the system and provide initial support.
The EUR 50 million phases recently launched by the DGA comprise 2 steps. The 1st is to design the RIFAN stage 2 system in detail, and produce the installation files. The 2nd step will validate the system and provide initial logistics support, including an initial 3-year on-condition maintenance (OCM) agreement, and conditional phases of recurrent annual OCM over 5 supplementary years.
These steps will enable the DGA to commission the system’s deployment on all target ships, beginning in mid-2010. EADS.
Dec 22/08: France’s DGA procurement agency issues the EUR 240 million framework contract for RIFAN stage 2, which will eventually equip 116 ships and 64 aircraft over a period of 5 years. The framework contract also includes operational support for an additional 5 years.
- EADS Defence & Security will be the prime contractor for this phase.
- CS Communication et Systèmes will run the RIFAN administration and supervision center.
- DCNS’ service division will provide installation studies and integration into warships, and equipment deployment.
- Rohde & Schwarz will supply RIFAN’s frequency-hopping VHF/UHF radios, which will also allow broadband IP transmission capability between ships.
RIFAN stage 2′s Network Management Capacity (CMR) will allow the team to supervise and manage the complete network of ships and aircraft from sites based on land, with a global view of security-related incidents, and control over the confidentiality, integrity and availability of operational data. DGA [Francais] | EADS | Rohde & Schwartz | Defense News.
