NAVY BLUEPRINT GUIDES TRANSITION TO OPEN IT ARCHITECTURE BEYOND FY06:

by John T. Bennett, Inside the Pentagon - 4/29
 

Navy officials have devised a long-term, multibillion-dollar plan for guiding the installation of open architecture information systems aboard its surface combatants, aircraft carriers and support vessels, according to a service official. A fleet composed of open architecture - or "plug and play" - computer components would allow the Navy to more easily install specific computer software and hardware upgrades on ships periodically. Service technology experts say these enhancements are needed to allow ships to share information stored in and passed along data networks. The Navy says a surface fleet of open computer systems is needed to allow the service to "get to net-centric warfare [by] embracing modern fusion environments and open systems and open technologies," said Capt. Ric Rushton, chief of the Navy's Network Systems Integration directorate. The Navy's surface warfare shop has developed a two-tiered plan to achieve the open architecture goal, he added. The first arm of the open transition plan to more flexible systems calls for the service to begin bringing some ships, including a select number of aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers and amphibious vessels, into compliance with the open architecture standards by fiscal year 2008. The second branch of the plan, called the Rapid Capability Insertion Process/Advanced Processor Build strategy, is slated to begin "about FY06 or FY07," Rushton said. Officials expect that effort will put the Navy "in a sustainable stance to be able to continue the transformation all the way into open systems and then be able to put capability into our ships in an affordable, flexible way," he said. The long-term strategy is built around several ongoing "backbone" efforts, according to the briefing slides. One is the Ship Self Defense System Mark 2 initiative, being designed by Raytheon for use on Navy aircraft carriers and amphibious ships, the briefing slides state. Development of the next version of the Aegis radar, the air defense-related Baseline 7, for employment on the service's next-generation DD(X) destroyers and CG(X) cruisers is also central to the plan, according to the briefing slides. The long-term open architecture strategy is designed to begin moving the Navy away from its practice of designing and purchasing systems for specific ships and toward an environment that will allow applications to be shared among its fleet of ships and aircraft.  "

Additional information with regard to OA implementation provided by CAPT Rushton:

"The long-term strategy is built around several ongoing "backbone" efforts, according to the briefing slides. One is the Ship Self Defense System Mark 2 initiative, being designed by Raytheon for use on Navy aircraft carriers and amphibious ships, the briefing slides state. For AEGIS Weapon System equipped cruisers and destroyers, the Lockheed Martin produced air defense-related Baseline 7 is the integrated systems computing environment is the migration enabler.  The service's next-generation DD(X) destroyer is also central to the plan as the primary development effort for future ships, to include CGx, CVN21, LHA(R) and LCS, according to the briefing slides."