The French defence procurement agency DGA (Direction générale de l’armement) has awarded the RIFAN 2.1 contract worth a pontential €150 million to a consortium headed by Airbus and comprising the Naval Group and Rohde & Schwarz.
The contract, which will run for a maximum duration of eight years, covers work to maintain and adapt the existing IP network for the French naval forces, RIFAN 2 (Réseau IP de la Force Aéronavale étape 2), to the needs of the Navy in the coming years.
It will also enable the future front-line frigates of the FDI (‘frégates de défense et d’intervention’) programme and the future replenishment tankers of the BRF (‘bâtiment ravitailleur de forces’) programme to be integrated into the RIFAN 2 network. The network adaptations will involve both its central architecture and an update of the cyber security incident monitoring and detection system.
DPRTE Official Prime Partner: Airbus
A total of 63 ships are equipped with the RIFAN 2 network, ranging from aircraft carriers and frigates to support ships, patrol craft based overseas and submarines. The purpose of the programme is to equip French naval forces with a truly secure broadband network. It is designed for exchanges of data of various classification levels, ranging from ‘Unclassified’ to ‘Secret’, between ships at sea and on-shore command centres.
The network transmits data from applications specific to the coordination of carrier group operations and those dedicated to the daily and logistical management of life on board, such as those between information systems of theatre chiefs of staff on board a vessel for the duration of an operation.
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