Navy to upgrade Aegis ships with open software standards.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

The Navy gradually wants to do away with decades-old proprietary combat-system software and replace it with a modern "open architecture." A changeover from "milspec" Navy-unique systems to a commercial computing environment would be costly, but in the long run could save billions of dollars, proponents say. More importantly, officials claim that an open architecture would help the Navy improve the capabilities of the Aegis combat system for future missile-defense missions.

An open architecture is what technologists call a "plug and play" computing environment, one that allows for easy upgrades of software applications, without having to reengineer a warship's entire combat system. "The analogy is that when you get a new refrigerator, you don't need to worry about testing the sink and everything else," said one industry expert.

In a Navy that spends billions of dollars annually upgrading proprietary software, an open architecture is viewed as a ticket to big-time savings.

Critics caution, however, that a certain amount of "hype" surrounding open architecture may drown out concerns about whether the Navy can afford to pay for new combat-system computers, while keeping the Aegis fleet ready for war and meeting its missile-defense commitments. By 2005, the Navy is expected to deploy 18 anti-ballistic missile Aegis warships--three cruisers and 15 destroyers.

In charge of developing a plan to introduce open-architecture computers in the Navy by 2010 is a new organization created last year, the program executive office for integrated warfare systems. The PEO-IWS is working with 49 large and small companies to develop standards and protocols that eventually will underpin every computer system in the fleet.

Open architecture is "the right way to go" for the Navy, said Rear Adm. C. Tom Bush, the head of PEO-IWS. "We need to stop building proprietary architectures,"

The proliferation of unique "proprietary" computing environments in the fleet rapidly is driving up the cost of upgrading and maintaining software. Even a minor upgrade can become hugely complex and require extensive resting, given what is at stake, Even a one-digit error in a software program can result in unintended but deadly consequences, such as misdirecting a Tomahawk cruise missile.

Bush believes that an open architecture can help make those upgrades easier and less costly, saving the Navy at least $1 billion a year (about 50 percent of the service's annual expenditures on software upgrades).

"On a good day, when something needs an upgrade, it requires seven to 28 changes," Bush said. "We can't build a combat system for every ship. But we can build a single architecture."

Another benefit of open architecture is "interoperability," said Rear Adm. Henry G. Ulrich III, director of naval...