Month: April 2024

Source: United States Navy

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) recognized Centennial Innovation awardees during a ceremony on Apr. 8 held at the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbor, Md., for major impacts on national security.
 
The Centennial Innovation Awards honor 28 of the most creative and impactful accomplishments ranging from 1998 to 2023. The scientists and engineers were presented the awards for their efforts and on behalf of all who contributed over many years to advance these naval technologies collectively.
 
“Today in the Red Sea our Sailors are serving superbly and employing the technology that you and our colleagues developed and fielded,” said Office of Naval Research Chief of Naval Research Rear. Adm. Kurt J. Rothenhaus. “From the paint on the bottom of the hull to the antenna at the top of the mast, our ships, submarines, aircraft amphibious capabilities rest on a foundation of superior science. I like to think of the Program Officers and researchers as the beating heart of naval research – in the end, we’re all really here to support you in your research.”

The laboratory has made an enormous cumulative impact over a time span that includes a World War, a long Cold War, and a multitude of regional conflicts and crises. In its early years, the laboratory helped create a Navy second to none, and thereafter it has played an important role in preserving America’s naval supremacy on, under and above the seas.

“NRL has a well-established record of success,” said NRL Director of Research Dr. Bruce G. Danly, SES. “More than a few of its innovations have had a decisive impact on world events. The most obvious are three technologies that each tilted the military balance of power: the first U.S. radar; the world’s first intelligence satellite; and the concept and satellite prototypes that led to the Global Positioning System. While not quite as prominent, many thousands of NRL achievements over the past century, some still classified, have contributed greatly to America’s naval superiority.”
 
NRL has helped build — in league with its government, university, and industry partners — the most resilient naval fighting force in the world, which in turn helped to enhance America’s security, prosperity, and role in global affairs.
 
“For a century, the NRL has stood at the forefront of basic science, translating fundamental knowledge into superior capabilities for our Sailors and Marines,” said NRL Commanding Officer Capt. Jesse H. Black. “Our recognitions today only scratch the surface of our contributions, emphasizing our commitment to understanding the unknown to achieve decision superiority across all domains and ensure the continued superiority of our naval forces. The laboratory’s role as a nexus for innovation guarantees our collective readiness to meet the evolving threats to our national security.”
 
Reflecting on a century of scientific excellence, these researchers draw inspiration from the NRL’s inception in the aftermath of World War I, recognizing the pivotal role of scientific innovation in national defense. “Today, as we face new global security challenges, our commitment to advancing science and technology is unwavering,” Black said. “The NRL’s first 100 years have laid a formidable foundation. Yet, in the spirit of continuous exploration and improvement, we affirm: We are just getting started.”

These awardees play an integral role in delivering the Department of Defense (DOD) the special knowledge, capabilities, and agility to succeed in today’s dynamic warfighting environment. This set of awards complements the set of 75th Anniversary Innovation Awards given in 1998.
 
NRL Centennial Innovation Awards:
 
In the area of Electromagnetic Warfare:
 
Dr. Scott M. Rudolph received the award for AN/ALE-50 Towed Countermeasures. The AN/ALE-50 Towed Countermeasure was the first towed decoy to be used as an in-flight countermeasure. The towed-decoy concept differs from the traditional goals of electronic warfare, where antiaircraft missiles are denied the information needed to launch and intercept. At a relatively modest cost of $22,000 per decoy, this system made billions of dollars’ worth of advanced antiaircraft threats in the hands of the U.S.’s opponents less effective.
 
Mr. Gregory C. Tavik received the award for Anti-Ship Missile Defense Radar. NRL developed its Anti-Ship Missile Defense Radar to detect and track sea-skimming missiles near the horizon in difficult littoral environments with extremely low false-alarm rates. The radar operates simultaneously in both surface and air modes, with the air mode providing an unprecedented clutter-rejection level orders of magnitude better than previous technology.
 
Dr. Francis J. Klemm received the award for NULKA Offboard Countermeasure System. The NULKA Offboard Countermeasure System, developed in partnership with the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation, is a quick-reaction offboard electronic countermeasure decoy to defeat anti-ship missiles. NULKA is now deployed on numerous Australian and U.S. warships under a $1 billion program.
 
In the area of Undersea Warfare:
 
Dr. Harry Simpson and Dr. Zachary J. Waters received the award for Structural Acoustics. NRL developed structural acoustics-based sonar technology for search and identification of underwater targets. This new technology uses machine learning and a diverse set of “fingerprints” leading to high probability of detection and classification, low false-alarm rates, longer-range operation, and low-frequency sediment penetration leading to potential buried target prosecution.
 
In the area of Communications, Information Technology and Cyber Warfare:
 
Mr. David A. Derieux received the award for Tactical Communications. In the 1990s, NRL developed three major items of tactical receive equip­ment for communications: the Multi-Mission Advanced Tactical Terminal (MATT), the Improved Data Modem (IDM), and the Joint Combat Information Terminal (JCIT). These technologies allow first responders to communicate when local infrastructure is destroyed.
 
Dr. William S. Rabinovich and Dr. Linda M. Thomas received the award for Free Space Optics Communications. Free space optics communication is the use of modulated light to transmit data through the air, an alternative to radio communication and transmission of data. The military utility of free space optics communications has resulted in the design and delivery of fourth-generation systems for the Marine Corps. This game-changing capability is a foundation for future expansion to other platforms and operational environments.
 
Dr. Gautam B. Trivedi received the award for Flying Squirrel. Flying Squirrel is an NRL-developed software application suite that provides real-time discovery, analysis, and mapping of IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n wireless networks and is also capable of scanning for Bluetooth devices. Flying Squirrel provides organizations the means to securely integrate wireless capabilities into their networks.
 
Dr. Paul F. Syverson received the award for Onion Routing, Tor, and Onion Services. NRL invented onion routing as a way to “peel off” and separate identification from routing for Internet connections. Onion routing provides confidentiality and authentication of the route that a connection takes between client and server.
 
In the area of Battlespace Environments:
 
Dr. Stephen Eckermann received the award for Mountain Wave Forecast. NRL developed the Mountain Wave Forecast Model (MWFM), the only meteorological model ca­pable of globally forecasting mountain wave activity and wave-induced turbulence in the Earth’s atmosphere from near the surface to beyond 100,000 feet. It has been used to direct flights with NASA/European Union aircraft and balloons for studying the physics of polar stratospheric clouds.
 
Mr. Dale C. Linne von Berg and Dr. Jeffrey H. Bowles received the award for Hyperspectral Imager for Tactical and Environmental Uses. NRL advances in digital reconnaissance and hyperspectral imaging technologies have been fielded in systems such as the F/A-18 SHAred Reconnaissance Pod (or SHARP pod), which replaced the aging film-based F-14 Tactical Air­borne Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS), and the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) space borne sensor flown on the International Space Station. The technology is adaptable to manned or unmanned platforms.
 
Mr. E. Joseph Metzger received the award for Global Ocean Forecast System. The Global Ocean Forecast System (GOFS) is the U.S. Navy’s global ocean prediction system. It was declared operational in February 2006 and was based on two NRL-developed ocean models, the Navy Layered Ocean Model (NLOM) and the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM). Further enhancements became operational in 2013 and 2018 with ONR sponsorship and academic partners. It runs daily at Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command production centers.
 
Dr. James Doyle received the award for Regional Tropical Cyclone Prediction Systems. NRL’s Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System for Tropical Cyclones, or COAMPS-TC, is a regional prediction system designed to generate five-day forecasts of tropical cyclone track, intensity, and structure. The COAMPS-TC deterministic system and COAMPS-TC Ensemble Prediction System have now supported operations for the Navy and Department of Defense worldwide for a decade.
 
Dr. Elizabeth M. Twarog received the award for WindSat Space Borne Polarmetric Microwave Radiometer. NRL’s WindSat was the first satellite-based polarimetric microwave radiometer. Launched in 2003, WindSat’s tested and fully evaluated the viability of using passive polarimetric radiometry to retrieve the ocean surface wind speed and direction from space. In more than 17 years on orbit, WindSat also measured sea surface temperature, total precipitable water, integrated cloud liquid water, rain rate over the ocean, soil moisture, and sea ice.
 
In the area of Enabling Science and Technology:
 
Dr. Joseph W. Schumer received the award for Pulsed X-ray Radiography. NRL enabled breakthrough advances in pulsed X-ray radiography with its invention of the rod-pinch diode in the late 1970s. A second-generation version of the diode, the plasma-filled rod pinch, produces an extremely intense X-ray source with parameters previously thought to be impossible with conventional techniques. It provides images of unprecedented resolution in dynamic experiments studying the performance and safety of strategic system components.
 
Dr. David Meyer received the award for Gallium Nitride Transistor Development. NRL’s research has been critical to the successful development and application of gallium nitride as a next-generation material for semiconductors. Gallium nitride offers many advantages over silicon, the previous industry standard, including higher voltage and power handling, greater efficiency, and improved thermal performance. It enables advanced high-power capability of radio-frequency transmitters for naval radar and electronic attack.
 
In the area of Affordability and Sustainability:
 
Dr. James R. Martin received the award for Low-Solar-Absorbance Ship Paint. NRL developed low-solar-absorbance paint in order to reduce solar heating on Navy ships. Testing in 1995 demonstrated that this paint technology not only reduced ship surface temperatures and the load on air-conditioning systems, but also decreased the ship’s infrared signature.
 
Dr. Arthur A. Webb received the award for Rapid-Cure Corrosion Control Coatings. NRL pioneered, developed, and commercialized durable, rapid-cure coatings designed for harsh environments. These coating systems reduced a three-coat painting process to a single-coat process and offer a nearly instant “walk on time” and a rapid return to service, typically in minutes, not hours or days, as with other coating systems.
 
Dr. Erick B. Iezzi received the award for Topside Camouflage and Nonskid Deck Coatings. NRL developed and transitioned both two-component and single-component polysiloane-based coat­ings. For nonskid deck coatings, they possess greater external durability, color retention, and resistance to moisture, hydrocar­bons, and detergents. A single formulation can be rolled or sprayed for flight decks and walkways of both surface ships and subma­rines.
 
Mr. James P. Tagert received the award for High-Temperature Nonskid Decking. NRL developed Thermal Spray Nonskid, which is an inorganic, nonskid decking that is a robotically applied coating. It uses arc-wire thermal spray processes of commercially available hybrid aluminum/ceramic feedstock. NRL developed the surface preparation and process application parameters needed to produce the necessary performance for Navy ships.
 
In the area of Space Research and Technologies:
 
Mr. Keith A. Akins received the award for Tactical Satellite (TACSAT). NRL served as the program manager for TacSat-1, the first experiment of the initiative, which served as the pathfinder for a series of experiments. TacSat-2 and TacSat-3, Air Force-led with multiple NRL experiments aboard, were launched in 2006 and 2009. NRL was again the program manager for Navy’s TacSat-4 spacecraft, which was launched in 2011. TACSAT demonstrated that small satellites can provide satellite communication services to naval and joint military forces, and to civil defense agencies using their standard equipment, in high latitudes and geographically denied locales.
 
In the area of Autonomous Systems:
 
Ms. Peggy T. Davidson received the award for Dragon Eye. NRL, in collaboration with the Marine Corps Warfighting Labora­tory, developed an affordable and expendable airborne sensor platform, Dragon Eye. This unmanned air vehicle provided reconnaissance capabilities to small units of Marines to assess battle damage, to detect threats over the next hill or around the next building, and to prevent casualties from friendly fire. By 2010, a total of more than 1,300 Dragon Eye aircraft, designated RQ-14A, had been deployed to Iraq.
 
Mr. Kevin R. Cronin received the award for Hydrogen Fuel Cells for Unmanned Systems. NRL has made significant contributions to the field of hydrogen fuel cells and to their application as high-energy-density sources for un­manned systems. Fuel cells electrochemically convert hydrogen fuel and oxygen in air into electricity and water. They have extended the flight time and range of unmanned air systems and provided opportunities for new deployment strategies and missions.
 
In the area of Directed Energy:
 
Dr. Richard P. Fischer received the award for First Operational Shipboard Laser Weapon. Challenges posed by asymmetric warfare and hypersonic missiles are placing new demands on the U.S. Navy. These threats create the need for defensive weapons that have a low-cost per shot, offer a deep maga­zine, and are high-precision, high-speed, and compact in size. NRL pioneered the use of single-mode fiber lasers with very good optical beam quality to extend the effective range of incoherently combined lasers. This was deployed on USS Ponce in 2014.
 
In the area of Personnel Protection:
 
Dr. R. Andrew McGill received the award for Surface Acoustic Wave Chemical Sensors. NRL pioneered the use of surface acoustic wave (SAW) technology to detect chemical vapors including chemical warfare agents (CWA). The Laboratory’s efforts, dating back to 1981, were supported in the develop­mental stages by the U.S Army and the U.S. Air Force. It became a field­ed technology when the DOD’s Joint Chemical Agent Detector entered into low-rate production in 2007.
 
Dr. Jay P. Boris received the award for CT-Analyst®. NRL’s CT-Analyst^®, or Contaminant Transport Analyst system, is the first operational instantaneous emergency assessment system for airborne contaminants and weapons-of-mass-destruction threats in cities. It is a product application based on NRL’s fundamental work in fluid dynamics and atmospheric research. It has been demonstrated and employed in multiple locations hosting secure high profile events.
 
Dr. David A. Stenger received the award for Silent Guardian: DNA Microarray Technology. NRL basic research was the foundation for the Resequencing Pathogen Microarray (RPM) bio-surveillance technology. It identified up to 100 different pathogen species in a single test using genetic sequencing and new bioinformatics algorithms. In 2005, the Silent Guardian demonstration – comprised of NRL scientists, Navy reservists, and U.S. Air Force staff – identified a full spectrum of circulating respiratory pathogens in samples from an active-duty military population, often at the level of strains or individual variants.
 
Dr. Amit Bagchi received the award for Personal Protective Equipment and Injury Biomechanics. QuadGard body armor was produced by an NRL-led industry-university-government team to protect Marines from severe arm and leg injuries caused by improvised explosive devices. It was mass produced for Marine Corps vehicle turret gunners deployed in Iraq. Concerns about traumatic brain injuries sustained during the same conflict resulted in the GelMan anthropomorphic head surrogate to measure blast effects on soft tissue simulants and brain cell cultures, provided new insights for protective equipment design.
 
Dr. Christopher C. Rudolf received the award for Transparent Armor. NRL demonstrated the economical repair of delaminated transparent vehicle armor at a fraction of the cost of a new part. NRL provided in-house technical expertise for the Marine Corps’ Program Executive Office Land Systems to develop, refine and transition the repair process to industry partners and received formal approval of the repair process.
 
“The very nature of science, innovation, and our mission compel us to move forward,” Danly said. “Tomorrow’s challenges will not wait for us to act – naval superiority is essential to deterrence and freedom of the seas. And when called upon to go into harm’s way, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps must be equipped with the weapons and capabilities to fight and win.”
 
 
About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
 
NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL is located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.

For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@us.navy.mil. 

Source: United States Navy

Good afternoon, everyone!

I want to begin by thanking the Navy League for putting together this fantastic event and for offering me the opportunity to speak to all of you today.

Thank you, Mike, and thank you to your team for all of your hard work, not just to put on this year’s Sea Air Space Symposium, but for your advocacy on the issues we face as a maritime nation.

I would also like to acknowledge our foreign delegation present today, including heads of Navy from around the world.

Allow me to extend an especially warm welcome to the head of the Swedish Navy, Admiral Haslum, who joins us as the newest member of NATO.

It is wonderful to be back at the Sea Air Space Symposium.

What an amazing event this has been!

Thank you, to all in this room—uniformed and civilian—for the important work you’re doing in supporting our Sailors and Marines in every domain—at sea, on land, in the air, as well as in space and cyberspace.

We face incredible challenges in every corner of the world today—from Europe to the Red Sea to the Indo-Pacific.

As we are well aware, Russia has now entered the third year of its unprovoked and illegal war of aggression in Ukraine.

And for the first time since World War II, we face a comprehensive maritime power—our pacing challenge—in the Indo-Pacific.

The People’s Republic of China continues to exert its excessive maritime claims through their navy, coast guard, and maritime militia.

In the Indo-Pacific, the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, as well as the amphibs and Littoral Combat Ships of Task Force 76, are patrolling the South China Sea. These warships provide the 7^th Fleet Commander with both competition and combat-credible forces to support our friends in Asia.

And just this Sunday, in the South China Sea, warships and aircraft from Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States conducted a Maritime Cooperative Activity within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone.

Just as Secretary Austin said: “These activities with our allies Australia, Japan, and the Philippines underscore our shared commitment to ensuring that all countries are free to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows.”

And I am heartened that our allies from Japan and the Philippines are in town this week for the first-ever trilateral summit between our three heads of government.

By standing together, we can stand up to China’s excessive and coercive maritime claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere.

And as you all know well, in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, we are working alongside our NATO allies and Middle East Partners to ensure the safety of innocent, civilian mariners and to protect our commercial shipping against the Iranian-aligned Houthi attacks.

Since November of last year, Houthi rebels have launched more than 90 attacks on vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

And just last month, the Houthis attacked the motor vessel True Confidence, killing three innocent mariners and marking the first civilian fatalities from a Houthi-launched drone or missile.

Our Sea Services are American’s first line of defense against high seas international lawlessness—in all forms.

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), with embarked Carrier Air Wing 3, is one of many units defending our maritime shipping lanes against these attacks.

Last week, USS Gravely (DDG-107) shot down a Houthi-launched anti-ship ballistic missile and two unmanned aerial systems directed towards her in the Red Sea.

The Bataan Amphibious Readiness Group with USS Bataan (LHD-5), USS Carter Hall (LSD-50), and the 26^th Marine Expeditionary Unit supported Operation Prosperity Guardian to deter further escalation in the region.

Last month, I had the opportunity to talk to our Sailors and Marines on USS Bataan when she returned to homeport in Norfolk, Virginia after eight and a half months deployed.

And I want to take a moment to thank the families and friends of our service men and women—thank you for your unconditional support, love, and encouragement as our servicemembers stand the watch, deployed and overseas.

We could not do this job without you.

Our Navy-Marine Corps Team remains at the center of global and national security—maintaining freedom of the seas, international security, and global stability.

The world is changing at a rapid pace, and to remain ready and relevant, we must never stop innovating.

At last year’s Sea Air Space, former CNO Michael Gilday and I announced the expansion of Task Force 59’s efforts with uncrewed systems in the Fourth Fleet AOR—the future of our hybrid capabilities.

We continue to adapt the expertise of our people in uniform to match the changing character of war.

This year, CNO Franchetti introduced the Robotics Warfare Specialist—or RW—rating into the Fleet.

RWs will be the subject matter experts for computer vision, mission autonomy, navigation autonomy, data systems, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

The establishment of the RW rating is a significant milestone in our journey towards achieving a truly Hybrid Fleet.

And the state of the world today highlights the importance of building a culture of warfighting excellence through integrated training environments.

We are witness to the culmination of our investments in training through our engagements in the Red Sea.

Last month, we executed the first Integrated Air Defense Course at the new Integrated Training Facility in Fallon, Nevada.

This iteration of IADC brought together the Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, including USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121), the ships of Destroyer Squadron TWO ONE, and Carrier Air Wing 9—facilitating training in the F/A-18, E-2D, and AEGIS simulators, and ultimately enhancing understanding of capabilities amongst our warfighters.

Our successes in the Red Sea directly reflect our commitment to high-end tactical training and the development of advanced tactics, techniques, and procedures spearheaded by the Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center and the Naval Air Warfighting Development Center.

To win the fight of the future, we must also embrace and implement emerging technologies.

The Department of the Navy’s principal governing approach is to develop concepts of operations and capabilities that bolster deterrence and expand our warfighting advantage.

Last September, I stood up the Science and Technology Board, with the intent that the board provide independent advice and counsel to the Department of the Navy on matters and polices relating to scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition, logistics, medicine, and business management functions.

The first task I assigned my newly established Science and Technology Board was to investigate ways to rapidly integrate asymmetric technologies that have the potential to change the very nature of warfighting.

They are meeting later this month, and I greatly look forward to their recommendations.

Research, development, science, and technology enable us to innovate at the speed of relevancy—and this innovation is the key to ensuring our competitive edge over our adversaries.

Today, I am pleased to announce the release of our new Naval Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy, guiding our Navy and Marine Corps’ innovation initiatives and science and technology research efforts during this decisive period.

I want to thank Rear Admiral Rothenhaus and the team at the Office of Naval Research for their incredible work in developing this strategy.

This strategy is a global call to service for scientists, engineers, inventors, and innovators from academia, industry, and government to work with us in solving naval problems to ensure our freedom and way of life.

The priorities of this strategy include strengthening maritime technological dominance—by realizing our technology gains faster, identifying and adapting to disruptors to our technology, playing to our strengths, and wargaming our own technology development.

Our strategy also includes building a culture of S&T excellence—enabling mastery of technologies and systems through partnerships with the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Postgraduate School, the US Naval Academy, the Naval War College, Academia, industry, and new teammates—partners and allies—both at home and abroad.

Lastly, the Naval S&T Strategy prioritizes enhancing naval scientific diplomacy—nurturing robust and meaningful relationships with industry and academia to develop technical ability and interest in naval problems.

We recognize that America does not have a monopoly on scientists and engineers or innovation, and working with allied institutions and collaborating with global partners opens the aperture to S&T talent and ideas, ultimately building global trust with partners.

It is a strategic imperative that we constantly assess the relevance of our S&T work to naval power and operational problems and opportunities.

After all, S&T is a means, and maritime dominance is the ends.

As Secretary of the Navy, my mission is to provide combat-ready forces and capabilities to the President of the United States, Secretary of Defense, and our Combatant Commanders.

This means ensuring our Sailors and Marines have the ships, aircraft, and weapons they need to deter our adversaries, and if called upon, decisively win our Nation’s wars.

But over the past forty years, America’s maritime shipbuilding capabilities and capacity have atrophied.

The consequences for naval shipbuilding have been manifesting for years and will grow ever more acute unless we reverse the underinvestment, both private and public, in modernization and industrial capacity. 

Right now, we build the most-capable warships in the world in shipyards that are decades behind the global technological standard.

This is an inefficient approach requiring far too much time, workforce, and taxpayers’ dollars.  

And it is certainly an approach that is wholly inadequate to pace our 21^st Century competitors.

Our Korean and Japanese allies build high-quality ships, including AEGIS destroyers, for a fraction of the cost that we do.

When my team and I went to South Korea, we were floored at the level of digitization and real-time monitoring of shipbuilding progress, with readily available information down to individual pieces of stock materials. 

Their top executives could tell us—to the day—when ships would be delivered.

It’s an ethos, a commitment to constant improvement that is the foundation of their reputation for consistently delivering on time on budget—even during COVID.

The daunting challenges we face are also an opportunity to partner with a greater number of shipbuilders here in the U.S. and with our closest allies abroad. 

We have an opportunity to attract the most advanced shipbuilders in the world to open U.S.-owned subsidiaries and invest in commercial shipyards here at home.

This will allow us to modernize and expand our shipbuilding industrial capacity, creating good-paying “new-collar” American jobs that come with a healthier, more competitive shipbuilding workforce.

As the findings of the 45-Day Comprehensive Shipbuilding Review have underscored, too many of our industry partners are behind schedule and over budget on our highest priority programs.

Let’s be clear—I want American industry to thrive. As a business owner for almost two decades, I understand your perspective.

I am pushing our shipbuilding industry to invest in itself to get better, to be technological leaders, and to once again deliver platforms on-time and on-budget.  

We must deliver for the American people, because in our line of work, we don’t get to make excuses.

Of course, there’s work for us to do on our end as a Department as well. 

I am determined to address the longstanding challenges in our procurement processes that cause industry heartburn as they try to do business with us.

I expect our leaders to foster a culture of excellence and accountability across our acquisition workforce.

That is why I am directing steps inside the Navy acquisition community to make ourselves better and smarter buyers.

I have tasked my new Office of Strategic Assessment to take a deep dive into the opportunities for improvement identified in the 45 Day Comprehensive Shipbuilding Review I ordered at the start of this year.

I’ve also tasked OSA to develop innovative new approaches for how the Navy can better organize itself to procure ships more effectively.

I created OSA just for this kind of purpose—to provide data-driven assessments and recommendations that will help drive smart choices for our Department.

And I will be taking action in other areas that directly bear on our acquisition challenges. 

As my team well knows, I have been continually pushing us to leverage all of our existing authorities to be as agile and flexible in budgeting and acquisition as we can.

Within the Department of the Navy, I have directed my team to do everything possible to move our priority initiatives faster than the budget cycle.

For example, as you’ve heard me say numerous times, one of our top near-term force development priorities is re-arming our warships at sea via the Transferrable Rearming Mechanism, or TRAM, for Connected Underway Replenishment of our surface fleet’s Vertical Launch Systems.

You may be wondering why you won’t find TRAM in the FY25 budget submission.

That is because our team and I identified the promise of TRAM and resourced an at-sea demonstration with our existing below-threshold reprogramming authorities after we submitted POM25 to OSD last year!

That at-sea demonstration will take place later this year—an unheard-of pace for a capability with such revolutionary strategic potential.

If we had waited to POM for it, we wouldn’t be seeing it demonstrated for at least another two or three years.

Instead, we’re on track to begin fielding it in two or three years.

Of course, because it’s not in the budget submission, we’ll need to collaborate with Congress to line up the follow-on resourcing to get to the final version of this capability and field it across our fleet. 

We are confident they will be receptive to helping us move fast on a capability that studies show will have the same effect as an additional 18 destroyers on the firing line.

And we understand that Congress is already taking up legislation to this effect.

The point is this: just as our country needs you in industry to be at the top of your game, I am determined to ensure that we in the Department of the Navy are at the top of ours.

We must meet industry in a common place of excellence. The stakes in this business are high.

Greater investment in our commercial and naval shipbuilding infrastructure, both public and private, is imperative to provide and maintain a Navy and Marine Corps able to defend our national security.

We are committed to working with industry to develop and grow the shipbuilding industrial base.

And we are doing what we can to create a steady demand signal to industry.

We must prioritize increasing industrial capacity to meet our era’s global challenges.

We are at a turning point in our Nation’s history.

We face a truly dynamic future—a future of both immense challenges but also of endless opportunities.

The maritime battlespace is ever-changing and demands constant adaptation and innovation from all of us.

We must continue to foster a culture of open communication, unyielding collaboration, transparency, and trust to find creative solutions to the complex problem-set which lay ahead of us.

Thank you, again, to all of you in this room for your commitment to the Department of the Navy, the maritime services, and indeed our Nation to ensure the continued strength and readiness of our Force.

Now that I’ve told you about all that is on my mind and what is happening in the Department of the Navy, I want to hear from you.

This is your opportunity to ask me questions on the important issues impacting our Navy and Marines Corps today.

Who’s first?

Source: United States Navy

WASHINGTON  –  U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) researchers have developed a patent-pending Continuous 3D-Cooled Atom Beam Interferometer derived from a patented cold and continuous beam of atoms to explore atom-interferometry-based inertial measurement systems as a path to reduce drift in Naval navigation systems.
 
Inertial navigation is a self-contained navigation technique in which measurements provided by accelerometers and gyroscopes are used to track the position and orientation of an object relative to a known starting point, orientation and velocity. Quantum inertial navigation is a new field of research and development that can increase inertial measurement accuracy by orders of magnitude.
 
“Our interferometer operates in a different regime than most other modern implementations of an atom interferometer,” said Jonathan Kwolek, Ph.D., a research physicist from the NRL Quantum Optics Section within the Optical Sciences Division. “By operating with cold, continuous atoms, we have opened the door to a number of advantages as well as novel measurement techniques. Ultimately, we would like to use this technology to improve inertial navigation systems, thus reducing our reliance on GPS.”
 
Enabled by the unique properties of the atom source, the Continuous 3D-Cooled Atom Beam Interferometer exhibits promising measurement characteristics like high measurement contrast, low noise, and improved handling of variations in the sensor’s environment. This technology wields the potential to provide Navy the ability to operate in GPS-denied environments and overcome limitations to the accuracy of GPS.
 
Depending on the measurement platform, errors in the location estimation will accumulate and result in loss of accurate position information. Current commercially available inertial navigation systems, for example, can navigate with an error accumulation of roughly one nautical mile over 360 hours. NRL intends to develop new technologies to extend that time such that navigational drift does not limit mission duration.
 
“The field of inertial navigation aims to provide navigation information anywhere GPS is unavailable,” said NRL Associate Director of Research for Systems Dr. Gerald Borsuk.  “The advent of atom interferometry allows for a novel approach in inertial sensing, which has the potential to address some of the deficiencies in current state-of-the-art technologies.”
 
GPS has become a backbone to the functionality of both our civilian and military world, providing high-accuracy distributed position and timing information anywhere in the world. However, there are certain battlespace environments in which GPS cannot function, such as underwater or in space, as well as an increasing threat to GPS availability in the form of jamming, spoofing, or anti-satellite warfare.
 
“In an ideal world, we hedge against loss of conventional navigation by making the best inertial navigators we can,” Kwolek said. “This is to ensure that a loss of GPS doesn’t allow our ships to become lost in the middle of enemy territory.”
 
Why use atom interferometers?
 
Interferometers are devices that extract information from interference using coherent waves. This class of device is widely used for the precise measurements of displacements, refractive index changes and surface topologies. Inertial navigation is used in a wide range of applications including the navigation of aircraft, tactical and strategic missiles, spacecraft, submarines, and ships.

Atomic physics offers a unique toolkit for measuring with extreme precision. Atom interferometry is a method within atomic physics in which quantum interference of atomic matter waves is used to measure extremely precise changes in environmental conditions, such as fields or inertial forces.
 
“Performing atomic inertial measurements as opposed to a classical measurement gives different error dependencies,” Kwolek said. “We predict that if done carefully, atomic interferometers will exhibit better long-term noise behavior and accuracy than current leading technologies. Translated to the world of inertial navigation, this means keeping your location fix for longer providing more operational flexibility.”
 
Atom interferometers can also be used to discipline another sensor, much like how clocks are disciplined to GPS. This combination of an interferometer with a cosensor  can enable interferometers to realize a benefit in a real-world measurement scenario.
 
“This is by no means a complete solution,” Kwolek said. “There are tradeoffs to operating an atomic interferometer, for example, the enhanced sensitivity correlates to worse dynamic range. We are exploring multiple avenues to solving this problem including cosensor implementation or alternative cold-atom techniques.”
 
This quantum optics research is sponsored by the NRL Base Program and the Office of Naval Research.
 
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 states that quantum technology is approaching a tipping point that will determine how quickly it can make an impact. If the United States can stay on pace, many important outcomes for the Department of Defense (DOD) can be realized including robust position, navigation and timing for DOD freedom of operations with precision strike even with contests in spectrum, space, or cyber operations.
 
A Navy less reliant on GPS
 
NRL has delivered navigation solutions to the fleet since its inception but a breakthrough occurred in the 1960s with the invention of GPS.
 
NRL launched TIMATION I on May 31, 1967, and TIMATION II on August 30, 1969. TIMATION I demonstrated that a surface vessel could be positioned to within two-tenths of a nautical mile and an aircraft to within three-tenths of a nautical mile using range measurements from a time-synchronized satellite.

While initially designed for use by the military, GPS has been adapted for civilian navigation needs ranging from commercial aviation to portable handheld and wristwatch-type devices. Today, GPS is a constellation of 32 Earth-orbiting satellites providing precise navigation and timing data to military and civilian end-users around the globe. Despite decades of development of GPS, optimized inertial navigation systems afford the Navy the ability to mitigate risk against becoming completely reliant on GPS.

“In the modern era, NRL is one of several research organizations addressing naval inertial navigation challenges,” said Adam Black, Ph.D., NRL Quantum Optics Section Head. “The lab is taking advantage of advanced atomic and optical techniques to invent new architectures for inertial measurement that promise accurate navigation of dynamic Navy platforms.”
 
 
About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
 
NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL is located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.
 
For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@us.navy.mil. 

Source: United States Navy

A process developed and refined at Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) is producing positive results in the maintenance, repair and overhaul of the CH-53E Super Stallion and MH-53E Sea Dragon heavy-lift helicopters serviced at the depot.

A team of engineers and artisans from the H-53 Aircraft Components Shop worked together to improve the manner in which the aircraft’s spar fittings are evaluated for fit, resulting in a higher acceptance rate and faster turnaround times for the components. The spar fittings fasten the helicopter’s horizontal stabilizer to the tail pylon, allowing the horizontal stabilizer to prevent the helicopter from experiencing excessive up-and-down pitching during flight.

The new process uses a pressure plate and pressure-sensitive film to clearly identify high and low areas on the mount feet of the two inboard metal spar fittings in the horizontal stabilizer, which affix to corresponding mating surfaces on the tail pylon. These mount feet must make 80% contact, with no gaps larger than two-thousandths of an inch, said Jason Gaskill, an H-53 airframe production support engineer with the Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Engineering Production Line Support Division at FRCE. Spar fittings that cannot meet the required tolerances must be removed from inventory and replaced with new fittings, which are either purchased from commercial manufacturers or produced by FRCE’s machine shop.

These tight tolerances require an incredible level of precision work from the machinists who blend the surfaces of the reworked fitting; the bright pink dye left behind following a fit check using the pressure-sensitive film gives the machinists a visual indication of exactly where they need to grind. It works in much the same way as dentists use articulating paper, also known as bite paper, to identify where teeth contact during biting and grinding, he said.

“Many of these fittings have undergone years of maintenance, from removing superficial corrosion with a scouring pad to machinists grinding and blending to remove minor corrosion,” Gaskill explained.  “If it’s not a new fitting straight from the manufacturer, somebody has removed minor corrosion at some point. And when you’re talking measurements of a thousandth of an inch, the machinists don’t have a way to judge exactly which areas of the fitting they’re removing material from, or whether they’ve removed the exact same amount of material from one of the surfaces compared to the other one.”

Because the human eye isn’t able to measure increments that small, Gaskill said, the team sought to develop a process to let the machinists know exactly what type of work needs to be done to the stabilizer side of the fitting.

“Now we can give them a visual representation of what areas require blending and how much needs to be taken off,” Gaskill said. “We wanted to put in place a good, solid process so we know that what the shop is putting out is a good product without 100% replacement of these fittings.”

The process for using pressure-sensitive film to verify contact on the stabilizer side fittings, for both leading and trailing faces, has been rigorously tested by engineers at FRCE and written as a temporary engineering instruction, which means it is now approved for use within the H-53 Aircraft Components Shop.

Saving the reworked fittings that are brought into tolerance has multiple benefits, Gaskill noted. It saves taxpayer dollars by avoiding the cost of a new fitting and reduces turnaround time for the H-53 aircraft in work on the depot’s H-53 production line.

Amy White, an aircraft examiner on the depot’s H-53 line, said the cost of replacing the spar fittings could run as high as $150,000.

“Before, if the gaps were bad, we just had to replace them,” White explained. “Now we’re able to save many of them, between what the machinists are doing by sanding down the pink, taking another impression and seeing where we are, maybe sanding some more.

“Once we get to that 80% contact, we’re good to go and we’ve saved those fittings,” she continued. “And we spent labor hours working on it, instead of $150,000 in materials plus the labor cost of replacing the fittings within the components.”

Paul Guthrie, sheet metal work leader in the H-53 Aircraft Components Shop, said the new process also supports an improvement in personnel utilization.

“Instead of having to change out that fitting, we can spend a few hours checking the spar fitting and sanding it down in hopes of saving it,” Guthrie said. “We can do three to four impressions with the pressure-sensitive film as the process goes along and, if by that point, the fit check hasn’t reached 80% contact or at least shown significant improvement, that’s when a decision is made. If we don’t see a major improvement or it’s too far out of tolerance or specification, then we have to get a new fitting.”

This verification of flush mating surfaces on the spar fittings’ mount feet also helps reduce overall turnaround times for H-53 aircraft maintenance at FRCE, Guthrie said.

An out-of-tolerance spar fitting leads to fitment issues when it’s time for the H-53 production line to connect the stabilizer to the helicopter’s tail pylon, which in turn slows down production on the aircraft line as the fitting has to be reworked or discarded and a new one procured or produced, Gaskill noted.

“That’s why I really wanted a process that could address this in the back shop,” he said. “Because if we don’t address it in our shop, then when the H-53 line is ready to install the stabilizer and it doesn’t install properly, that holds up their work. It’s a hard stop.

“I feel really good about this process,” Gaskill continued. “It gives the components shop the ability to say they know the stabilizer side of the fitting is not the problem, and they have the technical data to back that up. And it allows us, as engineers, to know we need to look elsewhere to address the issue. One of the things we like to do as engineers is eliminate things that aren’t the problem so we can focus on what it could be, rather than every potential possibility.”

Gaskill said the team developed the initial idea for the process after discussing the spar fitting fitment issues with a senior engineer, who mentioned that the depot’s composite shop used the pressure-sensitive film to check for gaps between the composite layers of bonded tee caps, another fitting found on the H-53. While the spar fittings involve metal-to-metal contact rather than composite materials, Gaskill thought the same concept could work.

“I was trying to think of a way to get all of the high spots on the fittings sanded at one time and, with this, we didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. We’ve got a source of supply for the film. We had the plate from another process, although we are now working on getting a plate just for this specific use. We started with some trial runs and it turns out that this just works really, really well.”

MRO Engineering Department Head Thomas Osiecki said the development of this process provides an excellent example of how cooperation between MRO Engineering and the depot’s production elements leads to improvements that benefit both the FRCE workforce and the nation’s military aviators. 

“It’s exciting to see the success that Jason and the FRC East team have experienced in establishing this method of identifying and correcting gaps on H-53 spar fittings, and the positive impact it’s having on cost and turnaround time for H-53 maintenance,” Osiecki said. “This is just one example of what our FRC East MRO Engineering Department team members do every day – they support the Fleet by helping improve maintenance outcomes in our component shops and aircraft lines. The FRC East teamwork on display with this effort helps speed delivery of components and aircraft back to our warfighters.”

Looking forward, Guthrie said he hopes other entities within the depot and beyond might be able to look at what the H-53 Aircraft Components Shop has done with the pressure-sensitive film and find uses for it within their own areas, as well.

“This film is a pretty readily available commercial product, it’s fairly easy to use and is giving us great results,” he said. “There may be someone out there in the facility or even in the Fleet that will say, Hey, we could do that too – just like our engineers picked up the idea from composites,” he said. “And if someone else has this same type of problem, they could easily try this process and see if it works.”

In fact, the H-53 Components Shop is now conducting trials of the process on the tail pylon spar fittings, and hope to see an approved temporary engineering instruction released in the near future.

“Of course, those fittings have never been checked this way, either,” White said. “And that’s important, because we can bring all these stabilizer fittings into tolerance but, if the fittings on the tail pylon are out of tolerance, it’s not going to matter what we’re doing to the stabilizer side. Using this process on the tail pylon side is another way to save time and cost for both FRCE and our customers in the Fleet.”

For Gaskill, the best part of this process development is knowing the artisans in the components shop are turning out the highest possible quality product for the H-53 line and customers in the Fleet.

“When we finish that horizontal stabilizer, we know that it’s good to go for mounting to a tail pylon,” he said. “And I just can’t praise the artisans enough. They took a process that they’ve never done before, and now they’re able to get these done so efficiently. They’re doing such a great job, and this process wouldn’t be where it is without them.”  

Source: United States Navy

They come for the Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) program to brainstorm, conduct experiments, and showcase their latest innovations in front of NPS student, faculty, and staff observers, as well as U.S. Navy and Department of Defense (DOD) representatives.

The National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy both call for increasing defense innovation through greater collaboration across industry, academia and the DOD. But innovation doesn’t just happen within large companies or defense primes – in fact, small businesses offer unique advantages. 

The director of JIFX, retired U.S. Army Col. Michael Richardson, is quick to emphasize the importance of a cooperative platform that enables companies without deep pockets or influential connections to participate, and that the ingenuity leading to breakthroughs can come from any direction. JIFX provides this platform.

So, ahead of each day’s activities, Richardson restates the six principles that guide JIFX: “Austere by design; bounded, not controlled; inclusive; ‘develop now’ mantra; collaboration is expected; and failure is acceptable.”

The Office of Innovation and Modernization (I&M), which falls within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD (R&E)), sponsors JIFX. I&M accelerates defense innovation through prototyping to rapidly mature and transition capabilities aligned to DOD’s strategic imperatives. In support of OUSD (R&E)’s vision for robust engagement across the innovation ecosystem, I&M explores innovative ideas and technologies from small businesses and startups through discovery venues like JIFX.

“Our charter is to discover innovative technologies that we can mature, rapidly prototype, and then field throughout the services,” said I&M director Jon Lazar, who provided feedback and insight to the technologists while attending the most recent event.

“We’re an enabler and an accelerator, moving technology along so that it can become something that’s not simply a science experiment. JIFX creates a set of conditions where this kind of purposeful and targeted innovation and prototyping can occur,” Lazar added.

Over the years, development activities at JIFX have helped yield a string of success stories, such as the Shield AI (formerly Martin UAV) V-BAT, a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) that’s named after the flying mammal. At JIFX in 2016, the tail-sitter drone with a fixed wing and pusher propeller achieved its unassisted vertical takeoff and landing benchmark.

Once airborne, V-BAT tilts downward to fly horizontally like a conventional airplane. In 2018, it broke two milestones at JIFX by flying to an altitude of 15,000 feet and a range exceeding 50 miles. Now in 2024, V-BAT is flying off the decks of U.S. Navy vessels and completing operationally-relevant missions.

“We want an environment where we don’t have to do innovation iterations once a year,” Lazar added. “Innovation should be happening constantly. If we’re going to accelerate capability development, then we must create an environment where iterations can happen more and more quickly. The series of I&M-funded JIFX events gives us this ability.”

Based on the pressing needs of the Navy and DOD, a new research theme is designated for each quarterly meeting to focus the technologies being showcased. During the most recent JIFX in February 2024, the theme was multi-domain uncrewed systems (UxS) and countermeasures. And for the upcoming meeting in May, it will be C5ISR (command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) and countermeasures.

JIFX is deliberately accessible to small companies – even single-person operations – and offers extraordinary opportunities for the participants to push their equipment to the limits, under conditions that are typically out of reach for them, to collect valuable data and insights.

Isolated deep within the borders of Camp Roberts, JIFX affords technologists access to thousands of feet of restricted airspace at and around McMillan Airfield, urban and subterranean structures at the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility (CACTF), miles of surrounding offroad terrain, and a field laboratory to provide a collaboration space for technologies to partner and modify their systems in real-time.

JIFX serves as an incubator for putting ideas and brainpower into action. Participants have the space they need to spread their wings, and in some cases take off. Back during February’s JIFX,  on a windy and rainy day, engineers from GreenSight conducted the first flight of the WeatherHive swarming meteorological measurement system, with its UAV emerging from its “hive” canister.

“We flew a vertical ascent mission, collected data, and went to about 1,000 meters with our weather drone,” said GreenSight senior engineer Eli Davis during the event debrief.

Slightly larger than an outstretched human hand, the quadcopter design appeared at first glance like something a neighbor’s child would fly over the fence. But there’s always more than meets the eye going on with the technology at JIFX. Designed to contain 10 UAVs and to be portable, the “hive” can be deployed to collect immediate weather data at remote locations where local meteorological conditions are unknown. As a result, GreenSight’s technology isn’t just about a single drone; it’s about how a swarm of drones can collectively work together to perform important missions.

Continuing to align with JIFX’s principles, while the GreenSight UAV zipped along collecting weather data, engineers from IoT/AI field tested their C5ISR sensor systems, which are designed to detect UAVs in contested environments. As GreenSight expanded its flight envelope, the IoT/AI team experimented and collected data under real-life tracking situations.

A day later, the star attraction could have been the large eight-rotor UAV operated by Rhoman Aerospace, but it was actually the UAV’s GPS-denied, vision-based navigation system that caught the most attention. The octocopter testbed explored the system’s ability to navigate along a flight route by using landmark features as visual waypoints.

From the ground, Grayscale AI had a different perspective, as its neuromorphic vision camera kept a watchful eye on Rhoman’s test flight. The powerful dynamic range of the Grayscale AI camera’s sensors promises to render a common combat tactic obsolete. For more than a century, pilots have flown from the direction of the sun to mask their presence as they approached their adversaries. Grayscale AI’s sensors have the sensitivity to unveil a drone flying in front of the sun and effectively eliminate this blind spot.

The cooperation at JIFX extends even further than individual industry platforms. In addition to examining the technologies in use and engaging with the engineers and scientists behind them, NPS students, faculty, and staff also participate by conducting their own experiments and sharing their own research activities.

During the JIFX held in October 2023, three NPS students – U.S. Navy Lt. Austin Dumas and Lt. Cmdr. Hans Lauzen, and U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Daniel Lim – experimented with an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) prototype that was the product of their graduate research and a partnership with Saronic Technologies. Operating from Camp Roberts, their team used resilient space-based communications for over-the-horizon tracking and tasking of the ASV, which was located hundreds of miles away. Within 14 months, the students helped accelerate a promising solution that addressed one of the Navy’s pressing capability gaps.

When NPS student Lt. Joshua Nach, a Navy information professional officer, first attended JIFX, he had a different mission in mind. “I’m trying to see what I can add to future technologies,” said Nach. While looking into ideas for his thesis research, Nach was impressed by the exposure to cutting-edge technology.

“I have a better understanding of the pipeline that goes into developing capabilities we’ll see in the fleet,” said Nach. “Getting a sense of what current problems people are looking at, like ad hoc networks and stuff like that, helps give me a direction.”

The interactions that occur during the technology demonstrations provide a two-way street. In one direction, the Navy and other DOD stakeholders get to see and learn about what’s happening on the cusp of emerging technology.

“We don’t know what we don’t know,” said an attending Naval Special Warfare officer who is responsible for science and technology and technical experimentation. “So, we use JIFX to scout and nominate technologies that are of interest to us and that we would like our guys to see and experiment with. It’s a great way to be introduced to and vet new capabilities and technologies.”

Going the other direction, the technologists get immediate feedback and gain information and insight into the current and future needs of national defense. By incorporating this understanding, they can adapt and refine their designs to better align with current and future operational requirements.

NPS faculty member U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jamie Porchia, who specializes in acquisitions research and teaches enterprise innovation and sourcing at NPS, sees exactly how this comes into play. 

“As an instructor and a contracting officer, it was great for me to see how JIFX worked to bring technologies together,” Porchia said. “Attending it gave me a unique opportunity to see the collaboration and to be able to interact with users and contractors.”

JIFX allowed Porchia to dive deeper into how technology suppliers and end users can cooperate in the field to stimulate and streamline the development process. “This efficiency can result in deeper market intelligence insights and expedited learning of the capabilities available to support current and future mission requirements.

As technological innovation continues to advance, and the challenges confronting national defense continue to persist, JIFX ensures these two paths overlap now and into the future. And this gives the Navy and  DOD a bigger bang for the buck.

Participation in Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) events does not constitute endorsement of participating companies or their products or services by the Naval Postgraduate School, the Department of the Navy, or the Department of Defense.