Boeing to provide fiber-optic high-speed shipboard networking for three new Navy destroyers

April 24, 2015
WASHINGTON, 24 April 2015. Military communications experts at the Boeing Co. will provide high-speed fiber-optic shipboard networking for three U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers under terms of an $11.1 million order announced this week.
WASHINGTON, 24 April 2015. Military communications experts at the Boeing Co. will provide high-speed fiber-optic shipboard networking for three U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers under terms of an $11.1 million order announced this week.

Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington are asking networking experts at the Boeing Defense, Space & Security segment in Huntington Beach, Calif., to build and maintain the fiber optic AN/USQ-82(V) Gigabit Ethernet Data Multiplex System (GEDMS) for the destroyer USS Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), as well as for two yet-unnamed destroyers (DDG 120 and DDG 121). Burke-class destroyers are designed to engage enemy aircraft, surface ships, and submarines.

The GEDMS is designed to transfer data via a reliable, redundant, mission-critical network backbone aboard Navy surface warships. It is the most recent upgrade to the Navy's Data Multiplex System (DMS) networks, and offers enhanced network communication capabilities by providing an IP-based backbone that supports multimedia services such as video and data.

The Delbert D. Black is under construction at the Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. Ingalls Shipbuilding yard in Pascagoula, Miss. The ship, named for Master Chief Petty Officer Delbert D. Black, is expected to be commissioned in 2018.

Related: Navy shipboard networking builds bridge to future CANES data network consolidation for surface warships

GEDMS increases a surface ship's capacity to support data transfer for the upgraded hull, mechanical, and electrical systems introduced into the fleet with DDG 111. Additional benefits include manpower reduction and increased crew safety by using video and sensors for monitoring of remote or confined spaces, Boeing officials say.

Of the other two unnamed Burke-class destroyers for which Boeing will provide GEDMS shipboard networking capability, one will be built at Ingalls Shipbuilding, and one will be built at the General Dynamics Corp. Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Me.

In September 1989, Boeing delivered the first DMS system to the Navy for installation aboard the USS Arleigh Burke, the namesake for the DDG 51 class destroyer. As the DDG new ship construction continued, the DMS was upgraded to a Fiber Optic Data Multiplex System (FODMS) to support evolving needs.

Related: Navy orders two Burke-class destroyer warships from two manufacturers in deals worth $1.24 billion

In August 2010, the Navy replaced the copper-based DMS systems installed on the Arleigh Burke and the USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53) with the high-performance fiber-optic GEDMS, the latest variant in the DMS family of networks.

The manufacturer of the GEDMS fiber-optic shipboard network is Argon ST, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing. Boeing acquired Argon ST in 2010 as part of the company's strategy to expand its capabilities to address the C4ISR, cyber security, and intelligence applications. Argon ST is a division of Boeing Network & Space Systems, a business of the Boeing Defense, Space & Security operating unit.

For more information contact Boeing Defense, Space & Security online at www.boeing.com/company/about-bds, Argon ST at www.argonst.com, or Naval Sea Systems Command at www.navsea.navy.mil.

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Military Aerospace, create an account today!

Home

rakesh-kumar

May 15, 2019
Home

tim-seifert

May 15, 2019
Home

rex-harvey

May 15, 2019