The Navy’s top researcher said on Friday that the service has innovative new projects in the pipeline that could get into warfighters’ hands faster if leaders were willing to boost the budget for research and development.
Rear Adm. Mat Winter, the chief of naval research, said the Office of Naval Research science and technology budget for fiscal 2016 is $2.1 billion — out of $17.9 billion in Navy research and engineering and $169.9 billion for the Navy’s total budget. Not many private companies can survive with that level of investment in innovation, he said.
“We have shovel-ready scientific projects that could easily expand those boxes and bring additional solution space for our warfighter,” Winter said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Winter also stressed that while his organization is focused on innovation and “cool science,” that must be backed up with an effective and efficient business to ensure technology smoothly transitions into the fleet and that investments are made in the smartest areas.
“I’m not here to make this a business, but I’m here to say that if we don’t look at that and use some of the innovative models that corporate America uses, then we’re not using every tool in our toolbox,” Winter said.
The Senate-passed version of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act would eliminate the Pentagon’s top acquisition, technology and logistics job, replacing it with two positions: one to focus on innovation and the other to focus on the business side of bringing new technology into the military.
Winter said Navy researchers are working on the next big thing, which he predicts will come from current research in photonics and quantum physics.
One of the Navy’s newest projects is Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology, or LOCUST. This allows a group of autonomous vehicles to be launched in rapid succession, then operate on their own with the ability to avoid threats or change course because of an obstacle.
Winter said that next week, the Office of Naval Research will be conducting a demonstration in the Gulf of Mexico where it will launch 30 UAVs within two minutes. The long-term goal is to get unmanned vehicles in the air, on the ground and under the water swarming and working together in three different domains, he said.
Winter said one of the key things that allows his department to be innovative is how much authority he has. While there is a system of checks and balances with Navy and Marine Corps leadership, Winter said he himself can say “yes” to projects and get resources to new initiatives quickly, which allows for more flexibility and quick starts.
“Decisions are made in minutes and hours, not weeks and months,” he said.
Congress has been working in recent years to speed up the sluggish and bureaucratic acquisition process at the Pentagon. This year’s bills also include reforms to how much intellectual property the Pentagon retains and requires more open architecture to allow for more competition for new devices.
House and Senate negotiators are working out differences to produce a final bill.
