Fernandez says ships will get ECDIS during scheduled modernization and maintenance port visits. The ECDIS software, he says, is common for both surface ship and submarine installations, although submarines lack the IBS. Rudy Fernandez, Northrop Grumman’s director of Maritime Systems and Integration, says ECDIS is a software component of the company’s voyage management system within the Integrated Bridge System (IBS) now on all Navy and Military Sealift Command ships. The Navy plans over the next three years to install the system on as many as 115 surface ships, including in-service and new-construction frontline surface combatants, aircraft carriers, and amphibious ships, as well as Virginia-, Seawolf-, and Los Angeles–class attack submarines and Ohio-class missile boats. In October, ECDIS was installed on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). The Navy’s Operational Test and Evaluation Force (OpTEvFor) then approved ECDIS as “operationally suitable, operationally effective and cyber survivable,” and ready for fielding. The system went through successful testing on board the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) last August, with additional testing at NSWC Philadelphia. The company is doing the work at its Maritime Systems and Integration facility in Charlottesville, Virginia. In September 2022, Naval Sea Systems Command (NavSea) awarded the company a $13.1 million contract for the ECDIS modifications and upgrades, which have been overseen by the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s (NSWC’s) Philadelphia Division. Northrop Grumman’s Naval and Oceanic Systems group is implementing software changes and upgrades to the Navy’s Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) The Navy will begin installing the system on board submarines this coming summer.
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