General Dynamics is the link for Navy network

General Dynamics Corp. won a $5.5 million task order to develop model systems that will serve as fully meshed communications networks to link the Navy's land and sea assets and personnel.

General Dynamics C4 Systems will create and demonstrate two engineering-design model systems and two shore-demonstration model systems for the third increment of the Navy's automated digital network system.

This system is the Navy's wide-area networking program. It consists of various components on ships, submarines and at communications facilities on shore. The program's third increment adds a fully meshed network with increased data transmission capabilities that support the latest Internet protocols.

A fully meshed network is one where every node in the network is connected to every other, providing alternate paths in the event of connectivity failures. General Dynamics expects to complete the work by September 2007.

The award was made under the Air Force's $9 billion Network-Centric Solutions contract vehicle, or Netcents. General Dynamics C4 Systems is a subcontractor to General Dynamics Information Technology of Fairfax, Va., a Netcents prime contractor.

General Dynamics C4 Systems is a unit of General Dynamics, Falls Church, Va..

The parent company, which has about 81,900 workers and had 2005 revenue of $21.2 billion, ranks No. 4 on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT contractors.