Coast Guard deserves credit for developing Control Integrated Navigation System software

May 1, 2001
Please allow me to clarify and correct the Special Report in the March 2001 edition of Military & Aerospace Electronics entitled "Navy Pushing Bridge-combat Systems Integration for New Surface Warships."

Please allow me to clarify and correct the Special Report in the March 2001 edition of Military & Aerospace Electronics entitled "Navy Pushing Bridge-combat Systems Integration for New Surface Warships."

Since 1993, the Coast Guard Command & Control Engineering Center (C2CEN) in Portsmouth, Va., has developed the Command, Display, and Control Integrated Navigation System (COMDAC INS) software. COMDAC INS is a Defense Information Infrastructure — Common Operating Environment (DII-COE) compliant application, employing the core services and tools embedded in the DII-COE kernel. It is not, nor has it ever been, developed by Lockheed Martin Naval Electronic & Sensor Systems or BAE Systems, in Manassas, Va., as stated. Since inception, COMDAC INS has remained a government-off-the-shelf (GOTS) application based on a mandated DII-COE architecture for C2 systems.

In 1996, different Navy programs approached C2CEN to jointly develop the COMDAC INS software to meet their needs for a DII-COE compliant navigation application. Presently, C2CEN has a Memorandum of Understanding with SPAWAR PMW 156, Navigation Systems Program, managers for the Navigation Sensor System Interface (NAVSSI), and NAVSEA PMS 401, Submarine Warfare Systems Program, managers for the Navigation Data, Display, and Distribution (ND3) system on the new Virginia class submarines.

Recently, NAVSEA PMS 440, Detection, Navigation and Processing Systems Program, joined the MOU for the development of the COMDAC INS software for use in the Computer Aided Dead Reckoning Tracer (CADRT) program. These three programs will all employ the same COMDAC INS software on a DII-COE baseline. This will total over 200 Navy combatants and 42 Coast Guard cutters! Several of the NAVSSI Block 3, Build 4 installations with COMDAC INS have already been installed on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Nimitz-class carriers. Recent guidance from the Navigator of the Navy, RADM West, OPNAV/N096, has directed these programs of record to accelerate implementation with the COMDAC INS software throughout the fleets to allow "paperless" navigation by 2004, earlier than the previous CNO directive.

Capt. R. W. Nutting
Commanding Officer
U.S. Coast Guard Command & Control Engineering Center (C2CEN)
Portsmouth, Va.

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