Rear Adm. Christian Becker, the Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) along with Dr. John Zangardi, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Information Operations, and Space visited USS Higgins (DDG 76) Aug. 6 for a tour of the ship’s recent Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) installation.
CANES is the Navy’s next generation tactical afloat network, and represents a new business model for delivering capability to the fleet. CANES consolidates five legacy networks into one, which enhances operational effectiveness and provides better quality of life for deployed Sailors.
USS Higgins (DDG 76) received the installation during a recent Selective Restricted Availability that concluded in June. Higgins is among the first group of ships to receive the upgrade and is currently the CANES operational test ship.
During Becker and Zangardi’s visit, Cmdr. Nicole Shue, Higgins’ commanding officer, addressed lessons learned during the installation and offered feedback on how surface platforms and contractors can improve future installations.
Higgins’ communications officer, Ensign Chris Rugile, led the visitors on a tour of the ship’s spaces that were affected by the installation.
Before departing the ship, Becker presented Rugile with his coin and recognized the efforts of Combat Communications division during the successful upgrade.
Higgins, homeported in San Diego, is currently in the Basic Phase of training in preparation for future deployments.