Navy asks DRS Laurel to provide Ethernet shipboard networking equipment for Arleigh Burke-class destroyers
WASHINGTON – U.S. Navy shipboard electronics experts are asking Leonardo DRS to provide high-speed Ethernet fiber-optic shipboard networking equipment installation and repair for the latest versions of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.
Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington announced an $11.8 million order to the DRS Laurel Technologies segment of Leonardo DRS in Johnstown, Pa., to provide AN/USQ-82(V) Gigabit Ethernet Data Multiplex System (GEDMS) shipboard networking hardware for the Burke-class destroyer.
This shipboard networking equipment is for the new Burke-class destroyers, upgrades to existing Burke-class destroyers, and for the Aegis Ashore Japan -- a land-based missile defense systems based on those aboard Burke-class destroyers.
The GEDMS variant of the AN/USQ-82(V) delivers technologically-refreshed IC data network, which enables critical and real-time control system communications throughout the DDG 51-class destroyer, Navy officials say.
The GEDMS network transfers inputs and outputs for the Burke-class destroyer's machinery control systems, damage control system, steering control system, Aegis combat system, navigation displays, and interior communications alarms and indicators.
The network is designed to replace the mile of point-to-point cabling, signal converters, junction boxes, and switchboards that make up a conventional ship’s cabling, Navy officials say.
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.
GEDMS increases a surface ship's capacity to support data transfer for the Burke-class destroyer's latest upgraded hull, mechanical, and electrical systems. Additional benefits include manpower reduction and increased crew safety by using video and sensors for monitoring of remote or confined spaces, Boeing officials say.
On this order DRS will do the work in Johnstown, Pa., and should be finished by August 2021. For more information contact DRS Laurel Technologies at www.leonardodrs.com/locations/naval-electronics-laurel-technologies-johnstown-pa, or Naval Sea Systems Command at www.navsea.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
