Jamie Bennet
The U.S. Navy has approved the installation of Northrop Grumman‘s Electronic Chart Display and Information System into the service branch’s ships and submarines, beginning with USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.
Navy ECDIS was deemed by the Navy’s Operational Test and Evaluation Force as “operationally suitable, operationally effective and cyber survivable” as part of bridge and navigation systems, Northrop said Wednesday.
The software displays different formats of digital nautical charts and automates the execution of route plans by monitoring targets from the ship’s navigation radar. It also works to analyze the targets and charts to warn of hazards while the vessel is in motion.
Northrop previously developed and fielded the Voyage Management System, the ECDIS software currently being used by the Navy. The new version underwent sea trials on the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) before being evaluated by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division.
NSWCPD will equip USS Theodore with Navy ECDIS in October, while 115 more ships will receive the system in the next three years.
