Source: United States Navy
Introduction/Thank You
Good afternoon, everyone!
It is wonderful to be with you at Georgia Tech Research Institute, the future of engineering, science, and technology.
President Cabrera, thank you for your leadership of the students here at Georgia Tech, the future scientists, engineers, innovators, and problem-solvers of our country.
Dr. Hudgens, thank you for your leadership and vision for the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and all that you are doing to advance our national security interests.
I thank the future Navy and Marine Corps Officers from the NROTC consortium here with us today.
Thank you for answering the call to service—for choosing a path both challenging and difficult. I look forward to you joining our Fleet and Force.
To all of our Georgia Tech faculty and students, distinguished visitors, and guests—welcome, and thank you for your time today.
World Today
As you have read in the news, we face challenges in every corner of the world—from the Indo-Pacific, to Europe, to the Red Sea.
In Europe, we are approaching the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale and illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine is fighting not only for their own liberty and freedom—they are fighting to protect democracy in Europe and indeed around the world.
We proudly stand beside them in support for their just and noble cause.
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 Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, we have been working tirelessly alongside our NATO allies and Middle Eastern partners to protect innocent civilian mariners and commercial shipping from Iranian-aligned Houthi attacks.
Following the October 7th attacks in Israel one year ago, our Navy and Marine Corps were swiftly deployed to the region, forming an integrated force capable of responding to any threat.
Carrier Air Wing Three, our “Battle Axe,” played a pivotal role in protecting civilian mariners, deploying over sixty air-to-air missiles and over 420 air-to-surface weapons.
We mourn the loss of two trailblazing, combat-decorated naval aviators from Carrier Air Wing Three who passed away during a training event last week: Lieutenant Commander Lyndsay “Miley” Evans and Lieutenant Serena “Dug” Wileman.
Their sacrifice reminds us that what we ask of our Sailors and Marines is anything but routine.
And our hearts go out to the families and friends of these brave and selfless warfighters.
The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, with the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, made significant contributions in the region by deterring hostile Houthi attacks and preventing the conflict from escalating throughout the region.
Our warships—including the Carney, Mason, Gravely, Laboon, Eisenhower, and Thomas Hudner—have demonstrated exceptional performance under fire, successfully deterring and defeating missile and drone attacks targeting innocent maritime shipping.
Two of our highly capable destroyers, the USS Cole (DDG 67)—a warship which carries a proud legacy of standing tall to acts of terrorism—and the USS Bulkeley (DDG 84)—which will always have a special place in my naval carer as her first Commanding Officer—aided our Israeli allies in shooting down Iranian ballistic missiles.
I am incredibly proud of the professionalism, dedication, and resilience shown by our Cole and Bulkeley Sailors.
These brave young men and women illustrate the consistent excellence and effectiveness expected of our United States Navy.
Our Navy-Marine Corps Team remains at the center of global and national security—maintaining freedom of the seas, international security, and global stability.
DON Innovation Initiatives
To win the fight of the future, we must embrace and implement emerging technologies.
We stand on the shoulders of giants in innovation.
And delivering technology which changes the very nature of warfighting is in our DNA.
A little over a year ago, I stood in the courtyard of the Pentagon to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Naval Research Lab—the place that invented radar, GPS, and the first satellite tracking system—and a place I worked at as a young lieutenant commander.
At that time, I challenged the research, engineering, and technology developers of today to take their place in the company of those innovation giants.
I challenged my team to innovate at the speed of relevance to deliver concepts of operations and capabilities which bolster deterrence and expand our warfighting advantage.
I challenged my Chief of Naval Research to align the Office of Naval Research’s investment in science and technology research—including the research conducted here at Georgia Tech—with each effort aimed at addressing issues we face as a maritime nation.
Within three months of my challenge to the Chief of Naval Research, he delivered.
Our new Naval Science and Technology Strategy now drives our Navy and Marine Corps’ innovation investments in science and technology research during this decisive period.
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.
And the Georgia Tech Research Institute has answered this call.
During this past fiscal year, ONR completed 22 grants here at GTRI worth $23.6 million, and Georgia Tech currently has 72 active contracts and grants with the Navy worth $216 million.
These ONR grants support research and development of technology in cyber, AI and autonomy, materials and electronics, as well as ocean, atmosphere, and space—focus areas in our Naval S&T Strategy.
Service to our national security is indeed the engine of GTRI.
Another critical investment we have made as a result of our strategic change is the establishment of the Naval Innovation Center at the Naval Postgraduate School.
The NIC will enhance and accelerate the innovation process at NPS by driving “ideas to impact,” bringing research concepts out of the lab and into the field faster by empowering students and partners across the entire Naval Research and Development Establishment to work with the Naval innovation ecosystem and industry—in a whole-of-Navy approach—to speed the delivery of warfighting advantages to our Naval forces.
Furthermore, we are supporting the construction of a purposefully-designed facility to house the NIC at the Naval Postgraduate School, providing a space for collaboration, defense-focused experimentation, and demonstration of operational use cases to ensure the right technology is evolving.
S&T Board One Year Update
Last fall, I also announced the establishment of the Department of the Navy’s Science and Technology Board, with the intent that the board provide independent advice and counsel to the Department on matters and policies relating to scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition, logistics, medicine, and business management functions.
Our Science and Technology Board just completed its inaugural year.
Under the expert leadership of former Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig, this impressive group of thought leaders with expertise in government, industry, and academia has completed an ambitious research agenda to identify new technologies for rapid adoption.
Since I signed out the Board’s initial tasking in February, they have achieved the impressive feat of undertaking and concluding six studies, delivering near term, practical recommendations, that the Department of the Navy can quickly implement.
I have accepted recommendation reports from the Board and issued implementation guidance related to the path forward on unmanned systems, improving sailor physical and mental health, mission assurance of digital infrastructure, and capitalizing on opportunities for additive manufacturing.
In fact, Georgia Tech’s own Chief Manufacturing Officer and Manufacturing Institute Executive Director Dr. Tom Kurfess, lent his breadth and depth of expertise in leading a study on additive manufacturing which I accepted last month.
It is a testament to the Board’s energy and dedication, that it is already embarking on additional projects to keep our Navy at the leading edge of technology and innovation.
Innovation Closer to the Fight
Similar to the focus of our S&T Board of Advisors, who are looking at today’s problems and ways that technology can provide new ways to tackle our operational challenges, I chartered a Disruptive Capabilities Office last January to look at already-available or emerging technology to address the Fleet’s capability gaps.
And they have delivered.
DCO identified meaty organizational, doctrinal, and technological advancements that the Navy has implemented, within six months, to close an emergent warfighting gap in Counter-UAS base defense for the CENTCOM area of responsibility.
DCO is also leading an effort to combine innovative commercial space-enabled capabilities in coordination with the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, and other governmental agencies to enhance Maritime Domain Awareness for the Department of the Navy along with our allies and partners.
Replicator and Capability-Based Delivery
My call to innovation has also put more “ready players on the field” as we look to grow force structure in the near term.
In the last twelve months, I have fielded varying sizes of unmanned surface vessels into the hands of our operators for use in experimentation, CONOP development, and for operation.
We are expanding our systems to include not only homogeneous but also heterogeneous collaborative autonomy.
I am extremely proud of my team’s leadership in this domain, to include our leadership in identifying and quickly procuring the capabilities that support Deputy Secretary of Defense Hicks’s “Replicator” initiative.
It is no accident that four of the five selected “Replicator” systems came out of the Department of the Navy’s innovation ecosystem.
And over the last year, our Department has expended more missiles than we have since the Second World War.
My Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems has been at the forefront of this fight.
Last year, I challenged that office to operate and field its systems as a “portfolio of capabilities”—and they have delivered.
The IWS RCO has been working hand-in-hand with our operators in the fight in the Red Sea to deliver innovations, in near-real time, as we continue to innovate—at speed.
Call to Action/Closing
I am extremely proud of everything our department has accomplished over the last three years, and I am excited for our Navy-Marine Corps team as we chart a course for the future—a future that will require us to respond and adapt to whatever geopolitical challenges our Nation may face.
To those Georgia Tech, Spellman, and Morehouse College students who are not affiliated with the NROTC program—if anything that I said today interests you, I encourage you to speak with me or a member of my staff to learn more about how you can join our team in the Navy or Marine Corps.
Service in the Navy and Marine Corps is more than just a job—it represents a chance to serve and become something much bigger than yourself.
And the Department of the Navy also provides numerous opportunities for public service beyond serving in uniform—we need engineers, scientists, and analysts in our Department.
As our Department continues to re-imagine and refocus our innovation efforts, I encourage all of you—our nation’s scientists, engineers, researchers, and inventors—to join us.
No matter how you serve, you’ll be part of a team working together toward a shared goal.
We are indeed in an innovation race—and it is one we must win.
Innovation must permeate every aspect of our Department’s approach to deliver technologies and capabilities at a speed and scale necessary for our Navy and Marine Corps to confront the challenges of today and the future.
Thank you all for your commitment to the Department of the Navy, the maritime services, and indeed our Nation.
May God continue to bless our Sailors, Marines, Civilians, and their families stationed around the globe with fair winds and following seas.