Navy CANES receives Milestone C approval for limited production and deployment

The Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Network and Enterprise Services (CANES) program received its Milestone C acquisition decision memorandum from Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall on Dec. 14.

The decision begins limited production and the first installation of the next-generation tactical afloat network on the San Diego-based destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69). The Milestone C approval paves the way for production of 29 CANES units with 23 installations.

"CANES is more than a system, it is also a new business model for delivering capability to the fleet,” said RADM Jerry Burroughs, program executive officer for command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I), in a press statement issued by Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). “It takes five legacy networks and combines them into one network, allowing us to streamline support, training and operating procedures."

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor on CANES, the contract for which could be worth south of $700 million. The plan is to deploy CANES to about 190 ships, submarines and maritime operations centers. In addition to the consolidation of five legacy networks, it includes the implementation of a single support framework for about 40 C4I applications that require dedicated infrastructure to operate.

"Today we have many different variants of networks out there that present significant supportability and information assurance challenges," said Burroughs in the SPAWAR statement. "CANES also has significant IA (information assurance) capability built into it that we've never had before, which will allow us to ensure we're delivering secure capability that stays relevant to the warfighter."