US Navy Leaning on CANES to Integrate Shipboard Networks

March 27/13: The Space and Naval Warfare System Command (SPAWAR) releases draft RFP N00039-13-R-0013 for the procurement of CANES full deployment production units in order to promote the early exchange of information. The core contract would be a firm fixed price (FFP) complemented by FFP and cost plus fixed fee (CPFF) CLINs for associated analysis and assessment support services. The draft documents are available from a secure Navy website for authorized US DoD personnel and contractors.

Networking the Navy
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The US Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program is designed to streamline and update shipboard networks to improve interoperability across the fleet. It will replace 5 shipboard legacy network programs to provide the common computing environment on board for command, control, intelligence and logistics. The primary goal of the CANES program is to build a secure shipboard network required for naval and joint operations, which is much easier when you consolidate and reduce the number of shipboard networks. That consolidation can also lower costs and maintenance requirements and reduce training needs, if good choices are made. The intent is to build it as an Infrastructure and Platform as a Service (IaaS / PaaS) and field it on a rolling 4-year hardware baseline and a 2-year software baseline.

In 2010, the US Navy awarded 2 contracts, with a potential value of $1.7 billion, for the design and development of the CANES common computing environment. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are competing, and a single prime contractor was expected to be picked in 2011. It took until early 2012, but Northrop Grumman won.

Contracts and Key Events

Note that CANES is about covering ships’ IT systems and networks, not core naval functions. Combat systems, and machinery control networks, are not included in CANES.

CANES is currently in production, after Northrop Grumman beat Lockheed Martin in February 2012. Introduction to the fleet was to begin with installs in 2012 on unit level ships with 2 Engineering Development Model installations, followed by Limited Deployment installations in 2012 that cover force level ships, shore sites, and additional unit level ships. That’s a bit behind now. Installations started at the end of 2012, but budget issues have created delays. 2013 will see operational testing, and there are plans for a follow-on re-compete in 2014. If the program recovers its schedule, CANES would ultimately be deployed to more than 190 ships, submarines and Maritime Operations Centers by 2021.

March 27/13: The Space and Naval Warfare System Command (SPAWAR) releases draft RFP N00039-13-R-0013 for the procurement of CANES full deployment production units in order to promote the early exchange of information. The core contract would be a firm fixed price (FFP) complemented by FFP and cost plus fixed fee (CPFF) CLINs for associated analysis and assessment support services. The draft documents are available from a secure Navy website for authorized US DoD personnel and contractors.

Feb 21/13: Delays. Inside Defense reports that uncertainty regarding fiscal sequestration has delayed 8 CANES installations, just as it’s delaying a number of other ship maintenance plans.

Jan 17/13: DOT&E testing. The Pentagon releases the FY 2012 Annual Report from its Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E). CANES is mentioned peripherally, mostly with respect to carrier integration:

“The Navy conducted developmental testing on the unit-level CANES configuration used on Aegis destroyers in the lab from July 11 – 24, 2012. The Navy has scheduled developmental and follow-on testing of the force-level CANES configuration used on the Nimitz and Gerald R. Ford [aircraft carrier] classes for the 4QFY14.

Currently, the ALIS [F-35 fighter maintenance support] system has provided all required parametric information to interface properly with CANES, but CANES is not fully developed yet, as the contract was awarded in August 2012. ALIS is expected to undergo Application Integration Process testing in FY13 to ensure proper interface with CANES. DOT&E will be able to better assess the impact on JSF operations aboard CVN-78 [the Gerald R. Ford] after the test. Currently, data are planned to be exchanged manually until ALIS and CANES properly interface.”

March 4/12: On second thought… That was fast: Lockheed Martin dropped its GAO protest.

Feb 13/12: Protest. Lockheed Martin files a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), claiming “flaws in the evaluation process preclude consideration of the best solution for the customer”, without elaborating further.

Feb 13/12: The US Navy announces its FY13 plans to procure 21 afloat units, 6 ashore units, 1 unit of technical training equipment (TTE), integration, with associated costs for pre-installation design and activity drawings, and installation. Funds are also requested for continued development on Platform Set 3 and 4 baselines, Developmental Testing and Initial Operational Testing & Evaluation on a unit level platform in support of Full Deployment Decision in FY 2013.

The Navy is asking for $435M (CANES + CANES Intell P-40s) for the year. This boils down to an average unit cost of about $10.9M. Installation costs that can vary from less than $5M to more than $12M apiece, depending on ship class, level of the platform, variant of predecessor system the hull currently has installed (ISNS Alpha/Charlie/Delta/Legacy), and geographic location of the installation. Spending for following years through the current FYDP stays in the $450M ballpark.

In FY12 CANES is procuring for: DDG (11), LHD (1), CVN (1). In FY13 CANES is procuring: DDG (18), CG (3), LHD (2), LSD (2) CVN (2). FY13 PB Navy Highlights | Justification book [PDFs].

Sept 12/11: Lockheed Martin has submitted its final CANES proposal to the US Navy. Lockheed Martin.

July 27/11: US Navy SPAWAR provides an update on CANES, which has just completed its Critical Design Reviews for both competing systems. A Test Readiness Review will be followed by formal Contractor System Integration Test, and selection of a single CANES winner.

The failure of the last Congress to pass a budget has delayed CANES by 5 months, and forced it to change its schedule. They still believe that the major milestones set out in the Milestone B approval can be achieved; the 1st CANES installation on a fleet destroyer is now planned for late in FY 2012 (late summer 2012).

Aug 16/10: Northrop Grumman announces a successful 2-day Preliminary Design Review at its CANES program office in San Diego, CA. The PDR and subsequent approval of the CANES design are milestone along the way to the CANES critical design review later this year, and planned shipboard installation of the first system in fiscal year 2012.

Northrop Grumman team members contributing to the Navy PDR included IBM Global Business Services, as Northrop Grumman’s major technology and services partner on CANES; and small-business partners Atlas Technologies, Beatty and Company Computing, Juno Technologies, Syzygy Technologies, and CenterBeam.

Additional Readings

• US Navy SPAWAR – CANES Application Integration

• RAND – CANES Contracting Strategies for Full Deployment

• US Navy CHIPS Magazine (December 2007) – The CANES Initiative: Bringing the Navy Warfighter onto the Global Information Grid [PDF]

• Northrop Grumman – CANES Brochure [PDF]