Environmental Information for Naval Warfare (2003)

In considering the environmental information systems currently used by the U.S. Naval Forces, the committee has placed a great deal of interest and emphasis on the Navy’s meteorological and oceanographic (METOC) community, which organizationally, falls under the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy (N096). However environmental information plays a key role in programs and research initiatives, both basic and applied in other components of the Navy. These programs collect, analyze, and in some instances archive large datasets that may be of value to the METOC operations and METOC customers.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsors science and technology in support of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Founded in 1946, ONR today funds work at more than 450 universities, laboratories, and other organizations. The mission of the ONR is to maintain a close relationship with the research and development community to support long-range research, foster future discovery of technologies, and mature next generations of researchers for the future of the Navy and Marine Corps.

At ONR, OAS manages several science and technology programs in basic and applied research that provide environmental information in METOC to support the Navy and Marine Corps. The department consists of two large divisions—the Sensing and Systems S&T Division and the Processes and Prediction

S&T Division. These divisions provide multidisciplinary programs in naval environments, undersea warfare, and related subjects. The department also includes the Naval Space S & T Program Office, the central point of contact for the Department of the Navy’s (DON) space science and technology activities. The department focuses its S&T programs in the areas of:

• Battlespace Environments (BSE): Observing, modeling, and predicting both small- and large-scale processes in the air/ocean/shore environments. It contains the traditional oceanographic and meteorological disciplines and encompasses: Environmental Processes, Sensors/Data, Model Development, Data Assimilation and Information Exploitation, and Validation Studies.

• Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW): Detecting, localizing, and classifying submarines with active and passive acoustics as well as nonacoustic means. These are enhanced by automated data fusion and coupling with environmental understanding and modeling. Encompasses: Cooperative ASW, Wide-Area ASW Surveillance, and Battlegroup ASW Defense. This investment area includes the Littoral ASW Future Naval Capability effort.

• Mine Warfare (MIW): Detecting, localizing, identifying, and neutralizing mines in both the ocean and littoral environment and improving offensive mining capabilities. Also includes Naval Special Warfare/Explosive Ordnance Disposal. Encompasses: Organic Minehunting (Sensing/Processing), Mine/Obstacle Neutralization, Sweeping/Jamming, Mining, and Advanced Force Operations. This investment area includes the Organic Mine Countermeasures future naval capabilities effort.

• Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance and Space Exploitation (ISR): Providing maritime situational awareness through development and exploitation of remote sensing and space capabilities. Encompasses: Remote/Space Sensing Processes, Space/Airborne Sensor Development, and Sensor Exploitation and Demonstration.

The Sensing and Systems Division of the Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space Department conducts an extensive program of scientific inquiry and technology development in:

• Ocean Acoustics

• Remote Sensing and Space

• Sensing Information Dominance

• Coastal Dynamics

• Sensors, Sources, and Arrays

• Ocean Engineering and Marine Systems

• Undersea Signal Processing

The division’s interests directly relate to Navy and Marine Corps operations, including undersea, expeditionary, and special warfare in littoral environments. In addition, the division manages the operation and maintenance of Navy research facilities, research ships, and other platforms.

The Ocean Acoustics Program supports research that addresses an understanding of the physics of the generation, propagation, and scattering of narrowband and broadband acoustic (and elastic) waves in the temporally and spatially varying ocean environment. Though research in acoustical signal processing is no longer a significant thrust of this program, ONR supports such research in collaboration with the Undersea Signal Processing Program, which also manages development and demonstration efforts. Research that uses acoustics solely as a tool to study other environmental processes should be proposed to the appropriate environmental programs (Geology and Geophysics, Physical Oceanography, Ocean Biology, etc.). However, ONR may jointly support the investigation of an acoustical tool or inverse method to probe some aspect of the environment, so long as its development is incomplete and relies on a better understanding of the relevant propagation and scattering mechanisms. In this case the investigator could also seek coordination of support from the appropriate environmental program officer. The Ocean Acoustics Program contains three primary thrusts and a “miscellaneous” thrust to capture topics of interest that clearly do not fit within any of the primary thrust areas. Brief descriptions of the three major thrusts are presented below.

• Shallow-Water Acoustics: the goal of this thrust is to understand the propagation and scattering of low-frequency (10 Hz to a few kHz) acoustic energy within the shallow-water ocean environment. Areas of research include investigations of the dominant shallow-water scattering mechanisms, the conversion of seafloor-incident acoustic energy into elastic body waves and interface waves, and acoustic propagation through linear and nonlinear internal waves.

• High-Frequency Acoustics: the goal of this thrust is to understand the interaction of high-frequency (few kHz to thousand kHz) sound with the ocean environment. Components of this thrust include the propagation of sound through an intervening turbulent or stochastic medium; scattering from rough surfaces, biologics, and bubbles; and penetration/propagation within the porous seafloor.

• Long-Range Propagation: the goal of this thrust is to understand the behavior of sound as it propagates over very long ranges (several hundred kilometers to several thousand kilometers) in the ocean. The main area of interest is understanding the effect of ocean internal waves on transmitted broadband acoustic signals.

This program investigates physical and chemical processes that govern active and passive electromagnetic spectrum scattering from the Earth’s surface and propagation through the upper atmosphere and the near-space environment. Of particular interest for surface effects are short water wave roughness modulation mechanisms, surfactant effects, intermittency in wave breaking, and non-linear water waves. Research is directed toward improving the knowledge base for development of mechanistic electro-optical/electromagnetic (EO/EM) clutter models and automatic target recognition and to investigate techniques that invert sensor information for the development of algorithms for assimilation into environmental models. Additional interests include electromagnetic scattering theory, microwave properties, scattering surface characterization, and wave and flux modulation mechanisms. Space research interests include improved specification of the global ionosphere and studies of ionospheric irregularities that impact radio frequency propagation at all frequencies up to and including those used by the global positioning system (GPS) system. Investigations of space weather phenomena are directed toward improved understanding and forecast of solar, heliospheric, and magnetospheric disturbances that produce C4I outages and destroy or degrade Naval space assets. Investigations of upper-atmospheric composition and dynamics are supported to improve specification of satellite drag and other space applications. Additional research interests include precise time and time interval, earth orientation, and astrometry for autonomous navigation and synchronization of Naval systems.

The Sensing−Information Dominance Program ensures that the Navy has the ability to form, interpret, forecast, and act on a complete tactical and environmental picture of the littoral undersea warfare (USW) and mine warfare (MIW) missions. Program investigators explore environmental effects on nonacoustic multisource data correlation and information display; automated reasoning under uncertainty; real-time multimedia databases; and large-scale, nonhardwired, high-throughput mobile computer networks. The program is involved in the use of nonacoustic undersea sensors and their related signal processing; science and technology for environmental and target data fusion for undersea warfare, mine warfare, expeditionary warfare, and worldwide ship tracking. Involvement in these areas aims to achieve robust, effective undersea surveillance in littoral regions; automatically form a seamless picture of the tactical situation, including its environment; and accurately assess the meaning of that evolving picture to enhance the performance of on-scene decision makers. Additional interests include: nonacoustic distributed system components, Ultra-Low Power light detection and ranging technology, superconducting quantum interference device radiometers,

platform Anti-Submarine Warfare data fusion, airborne and shipborne periscope detection radar, wake detection, and the effects of surface ships on clouds. The Sensing Information Dominance Program contains five primary thrust areas:

• Non-Acoustic Mine and USW—Demonstrates the feasibility of nonacoustic technology and systems as an adjunct or alternative to acoustic technology for MIW and USW.

• MUSW Data Fusion—Develops basic understanding of data fusion methods and demonstrate data fusion technology and system feasibility applied to USW, MIW and METOC.

• Deployable Autonomous Distributed Systems—Supports the process required to surveil and control undersea battlespace through association, correlation and combination of information from multiple sensors to establish and maintain situation perception over the undersea battlespace and support attack on threat targets.

• Mining—Demonstrates feasibility of advanced mining technology and systems.

• Maritime ISR—Furthers the development of technology to automatically develop complete awareness of the littoral maritime situation long before, leading up to, during, and after military engagement.

The Coastal Dynamics Program includes aspects of the fluid and sediment mechanics of the coastal ocean. At present, two research areas are emphasized: (1) Nearshore Processes: fluid dynamics, fluid-sediment interactions, and the resulting morphological response of the nearshore, where waves begin to break because of shoaling; and (2) Surface Waves: the fluid mechanics of coastal surface waves and methods for improved prediction. There are collaborations with other programs to address issues such as coastal meteorology, littoral remote sensing, ocean models, and mine burial and migration. Emphasis is placed on model-driven experiments, where hypothesis and instrument locations are developed with models and subsequently evaluated with field studies. Sufficient insight has been gained in most Coastal Dynamics thrusts that the effects of three-dimensionality can no longer be ignored. Therefore, interest is also placed on the use of remote sensing and other techniques that can be used to augment and place in context, limited or minimal, in situ field deployments.

This program conducts multidisciplinary science and technology development in all aspects of acoustic source and sensor systems for Navy surface ship, submarine, aircraft, or fixed ocean applications. These systems may be carried as

onboard equipment or deployed and operated autonomously or remotely as mobile or fixed equipment. This program provides the next-generation acoustic source and sensor technology for the tactical and surveillance undersea warfare missions of the Navy. Project scopes may range from component-level research and development to system-level technology demonstrations. Areas of interest in undersea acoustic sensor technology that use environmental information include:

• Affordable technology

• Autonomous sensors with in-sensor signal processing

• Deployable sensor components, technology, and Concepts of Operations

• Energy storage technology, especially high-power/high-energy technology

• Environmental adaptation for acoustic sensors

• Environmental sensors in support of acoustic systems

• High-power, high-efficiency, low-cost, low-weight/volume transduction materials or designs

• Innovative sensor delivery and deployment concepts

• Innovative towed and hull system concepts for sensors

• Innovative towed system components and technologies

• Optical fiber cabled sensor systems

• Acoustic surveillance sensors and sources

• Tactical acoustic sensors and sources

• Volume efficient power components

The basic research component of the Ocean Engineering and Marine Systems S&T Program seeks to provide fundamental knowledge in interdisciplinary areas required for the development of innovative concepts for rapidly deployable, unmanned Marine Platform Systems in support of a broader more effective Naval presence at sea and in the littorals. Currently the major emphasis is to develop improved understanding and correspondingly improved modeling capability for nonlinear dynamics of flow-structure interaction. Primary research topics include wave and current loading mechanisms, structural response mechanisms, and coupled fluid-structure interaction. In addition to providing a fundamental knowledge framework for advanced engineering methodologies, this component seeks to accelerate transition of basic research developments into advanced marine platform systems with applications to unmanned surveillance and monitoring systems for the Naval forces and at-sea experimental capabilities for the ocean sciences community. In support of this objective, the program encourages cooperative research and technology development efforts combining basic and applied research investigators across ONR and other relevant Federally supported programs. The Ocean Engineering and Marine Systems S&T Program supports applied research and advanced technology development in support of the Organic Mine Warfare

Future Naval Capability and in particular in support of Naval Special Warfare (NSW), Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), and U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Landing Force operations. The major research and development thrusts in these components are:

• Sensor Technology (in support of diver and EOD operations)

• Surf and Beach Zone Clearance Technology (in support of in-stride breaching of mines and obstacles in advance of amphibious landing forces)

• Mission Support Technology (to improve the mobility, endurance, and effectiveness of NSW and EOD personnel)

• Applications of Autonomous Platform Systems to Mine Warfare (in order to minimize human involvement in mine field operations)

The goal of the Undersea Signal Processing Program is to develop sonar signal processing algorithms that detect, identify, and locate quiet submarines, emphasizing quiet diesel-electric submarines operating in shallow water environments - and incoming threat weapons (torpedoes). To this end, ONR funds basic and applied research projects executed at universities, federal laboratories, and industry. The department’s work is organized into the following thrust areas:

• Active sonar signal processing

• Passive sonar signal processing

• Fundamental research initiatives in signal processing

The Active Sonar Signal Processing Program deals with environmental information related to operating active sonar systems in acoustically complex shallow water environments. These include:

• Detecting, classifying, and locating slow-speed diesel-electric submarines in shallow water

• Signal processing for autonomous active sonar systems

• Innovative signal processing algorithms for nonstationary clutter cancellation

• Multistatic active sonar system design

• Broadband signal processing algorithms and broadband target strength characterization

• Environmentally adaptive active sonar systems

• Detecting, classifying, and locating incoming threat weapons (torpedoes) in shallow water

The Passive Sonar Signal Processing Program’s primary objective is to develop signal processing algorithms that detect, classify, and locate modern diesel-electric and nuclear submarines at tactically useful ranges in shallow water environments. These include:

• Innovative detection and classification algorithms that exploit non-traditional acoustic signatures and increase initial detection ranges

• Algorithms that operate effectively in nonstationary signal and noise fields

• Computationally efficient passive ranging techniques that can be easily integrated into conventional passive sonar processing strings

• Computationally efficient depth estimation techniques that can be easily integrated into conventional passive sonar processing strings

• Signal processing for autonomous passive sonar systems

• Environmentally adaptive passive sonar systems

The program’s goal is to broaden the Navy’s science and technology base by conducting basic research in statistical and physics-based signal processing. Examples of research topics of interest include:

• Fundamental advances in detection and estimation using first principles of statistical decision and estimation theory

• Broadband signal processing algorithms and target-strength characterization

• Biologically-inspired underwater acoustic signal processing

• Feature sets for active sonar classification algorithms that can be used to distinguish returns produced by submarines and returns produced by other means

• Signal processing in underwater media characterized by time-varying multipath and random fluctuations

• Robust signal models that incorporate stochastic effects of underwater media

• The interdependence of array geometry, beam patterns, and the performance of reduced degree-of-freedom adaptive beamformers

• The performance of adaptive algorithms in cluttered environments, including a study of the adaptive degrees of freedom required to cancel discrete interference sources

The Processes and Prediction S&T Division (Code 322)

The Processes and Prediction Division of the Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space Department concentrates on improving the Navy and Marine Corps’ understand

ing of environmental evolution, the assimilation of data, and the limits of predictability. It plans, fosters, and encourages an extensive program of scientific inquiry and technological development in fields ranging from environmental optics to high-latitude dynamics. Fields of special interest to the division include:

• Environmental Optics

• Physical Oceanography

• Biological and Chemical Oceanography

• Ocean Modeling and Prediction

• Marine Geosciences

• High Latitude Dynamics

• Marine Meteorology and Atmospheric Effects

The general goal of the Environmental Optics Program is to further understanding of how light interacts with the ocean, including the ocean boundaries (the sea surface and the ocean floor) and the atmosphere within tens of meters of the ocean surface.

Funded basic research usually falls into one or more of the following categories:

• Radiative Transfer Modeling—developing and testing state-of-the-art numerical models of radiance propagation within the ocean.

• Instrument Development—developing the devices and techniques required to measure the inherent optical properties of ocean water and the ocean floor.

• Optical Process Studies—quantifying the interactions of light in the ocean with physical, biological, and chemical ocean processes.

• Coastal Remote Sensing—quantitative assessment of in-water inherent optical properties, bathymetry, and/or bottom type from high spectral- (primarily in the visible) and spatial-resolution aircraft or satellite data. The products of these basic research thrusts generally support the development or application of ocean prediction models, new ocean remote sensing systems, and associated image analysis algorithms.

This program supports process-oriented and hypothesis-driven science and technology in the area of physical oceanography and in the applications of oceanic

research tools and techniques for fleet usage. It should be noted that there are three other ONR teams involved with science and technology in the area of physical oceanography. These are Coastal Dynamics, Ocean Modeling and Prediction, and High Latitude. Strong interaction is encouraged with these programs. In response to post-Cold War U.S. Naval strategy and tactics, increased emphasis is given to the littoral, defined here as the oceanographic region encompassing the continental shelf and slope and the adjacent deep water. The approach is based principally on field observations with theory and modeling expected to be closely integrated. The following is a listing of the thrust areas with a brief description of emphasis:

• Air-sea interaction

  Emphasis: impact on mixed-layer dynamics for improved parameterizations in oceanic and atmospheric models

• Internal waves/turbulence

  Emphasis: development of a global littoral model

• Marginal seas/straits

  Emphasis: identify key physics, develop archetypes, generalize results

• Shelf/slope dynamics

  Emphasis: improved parameterizations for slope/shelf modeling. Examine coupling to deep water processes in particular boundary currents.

• Open ocean

  Emphasis: emphasize meso/submesoscale spatial variability and time scales of weeks and smaller. Priority on upper-ocean processes. ONR encourages linkages to major international programs of global observations.

• Fleet meteorological and oceanographic (METOC) support

  Emphasis: develop tools, techniques, and observations of direct impact to activities at sea.

There is also a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary research with Biological/ Chemical Oceanography, Ocean Acoustics, Environmental Optics, Marine Geology and Geophysics, and Marine Meteorology and Atmospheric Effects in research areas considered to be of high impact to the Navy and Marine Corps. An overarching objective of the program is to foster transition of research products such as numerical and theoretical models, analysis algorithms, in situ data, sea-going instrumentation and platforms into operational Naval systems. In addition, support is available for critical evaluation of the impact of the environment on fleet exercises that test and evaluate operational Naval systems.

The goals of the biological oceanography program are:

• to enable prediction of the distribution, growth, and abundance of biota in the coastal ocean and shallow-water sediments, with the long-term goal of understanding how biota affect the optical and acoustical properties of operational importance to the Navy;

• to develop new instrumentation to sample and observe biological processes and phenomena; and

• to model and evaluate models of coupled bio-physical, bio-optical, and bio-acoustical processes in the coastal ocean and shallow-water sediments

The goals of the chemical oceanography program are:

• to enable prediction of chemical distributions and speciation in marine environments, especially as they relate to optical properties of seawater and interact with biota to influence optical and acoustical properties of seawater and sediments and

• to develop novel in situ chemical sensors to detect key chemical species rapidly, accurately, and at low detection threshold.

Specific investigators in chemical oceanography study the occurrence, production, and transformations of colored dissolved organic matter in the coastal ocean, air-sea gas exchange processes, aerosol chemical dynamics, chemistry of trace elements in the upper ocean, and nutrient dynamics.

This program seeks to develop accurate representations of the ocean system as it evolves in time and space. Underlying fundamentals include ocean field estimation, scale interaction and boundary interaction which are applied toward nowcast and forecast skill, subgrid-scale parameterization, ocean-atmosphere and ocean-bottom coupling and nested domains. The system includes acoustic and electromagnetic propagation models linked to hydrodynamic models. The goal of enhanced predictability is achieved through research on better dynamical formulations, improved numerical methods, and optimal data assimilation through adaptive sampling. Basic and applied research is pursued jointly with objectives to improve strategic and tactical decisions with environmental information and to motivate new understanding by operational experience.

The Marine Geosciences program emphasizes studies related to the continental terrace (shelf and slope), and its composition, morphology, structure, and geological/ oceanographic processes. Its program priorities are focused by the Future Naval Capabilities (FNCs) initiative to develop stronger links among the Navy’s requirements, acquisitions, and science and technology communities. Two FNCs of particular relevance to this program are Organic Mine Countermeasures (MCM) in very shallow water, surf, or beach zones and littoral ASW, aimed at sufficiently characterizing the battlespace environment to allow safe detection and monitoring of targets in shallow, nearshore environments. The overall program objective is to increase understanding of mechanisms that control structure, history, and dynamics of those geological features that in turn affect sound propagation, seafloor instability, bathymetry, and electromagnetic and optic transmissions in the water column and ocean bottom. These research areas of interest have been addressed in large part by the ONR Strata Formation on Margins (STRATAFORM) program, which is now winding down. STRATAFORM’s overwhelming success has prompted initiation of a follow-on program, in collaboration with colleagues from European Union countries. The new EuroSTRATAFORM program will investigate relationships between active sediment dynamics on the continental shelf, cross-shelf transport and accumulation of sediment, and the preserved stratigraphic record. A key goal will be to test some of the new paradigms that have emerged from STRATAFORM and develop models that are capable of predicting stratigraphic patterns on a variety of continental margins. Three specific program thrust areas are outlined briefly below:

• Continental Terraces. Relate shelf sediment dynamics and the development of lithostratigraphy. Understand slope geological processes and resultant geomorphology. Interpret high-resolution character of stratigraphic sequences in shallow water resulting from shelf and slope sedimentation.

• Sediment Processes. Develop a fundamental understanding of the processes responsible for sediment motion, transport, bedform formation, and modification, and the development of seafloor stratigraphy particularly as these parameters affect Navy systems operating in shallow water.

• Electromagnetics. Various applied studies in electromagnetics, including instrument design and development, electromagnetic imaging of objects on the seafloor and the electromagnetic character of shallow water (continental shelf) environments.

This program investigates processes, primarily of a physical, biological, or chemical nature, that are active in the polar oceans. The emphasis is on the conti-

nental margins, including marginal seas and the adjacent slopes. The overarching program goal is to support the ongoing development of environmental models capable of supporting future fleet activities in the polar regions. Contributing objectives are to improve the Navy’s understanding of ice mechanics and dynamics, air-sea-ice exchange processes, cross-shelf transport mechanisms, and turbulent mixing processes as they influence both upper-ocean mixing and deep convection. These program goals are addressed through individually funded research projects and through participation in coordinated, interagency research initiatives. Individual projects address diverse issues, including upper ocean turbulence, multiyear time series current measurements, ambient noise modeling and development of innovative systems such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and acoustic detection of interannual changes. The interagency Scientific Ice Experiment (SCICEX) program has concluded its field operations and is now in its final analysis phase. The joint ONR/National Science Foundation (NSF) Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) experiment has concluded a successful field effort and is now entering its analysis phase. The joint ONR/NSF Western Arctic Shelf-Basin Interaction (SBI) study is in its pilot phase and will shortly enter its primary field phase. (Proposals for SBI are to be submitted in response to a forthcoming NSF/ONR Announcement of Opportunity.) The interagency international program for the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH) is in the developmental phase. A new version of the Polar Ice Prediction System (PIPS) is under development for the Navy/National Ice Center jointly with the ONR Ocean Modeling Program.

This program sponsors integrated basic, applied, and developmental research with emphasis on improving the modeling and prediction of environmental parameters critical to Navy and Marine Corps platform, sensor, and weapons performance. The program includes research and development leading to enhanced environmental support for operations, training, mission planning, and systems development, and focuses on addressing Navy and Marine Corps real-time, high-resolution environmental requirements to support tactical sensors and operations in littoral zones worldwide. Topics of interest include marine boundary layer processes including aerosols, marine convective, and nonconvective clouds; mesoscale coastal phenomena such as coastally-trapped disturbances; data assimilation incorporating high data rate, asynchronous sensors (radar, lidar, etc.); global, mesoscale, and on-scene modeling focusing on the marine atmosphere and/or coastal zone; atmospheric predictability; environmental effects on electromagnetic and electrooptic propagation, and western and southern Pacific tropical cyclone behavior and evolution in motion and structure.

The Systems Commands provide for and meets those material support needs of the DON that are within the assigned “material support” responsibility of each command. This general responsibility includes the research, design, development, logistics planning, testing, technical evaluation, acquisition, procurement, contracting, production, construction, manufacture, inspection, fitting out, supply, maintenance, alteration, conversion, repair, overhaul, modification, advance base outfitting, safeguarding, distribution, and disposal of naval material. In addition, individual Systems Commands are tasked to perform control, coordination, or service functions as designated Lead Systems Commands for particular programs or functions. Environmental information from these commands plays a key role in enabling the Navy to operate its ships, aircraft, and various weapons and sensor systems in a complex and changing environment. The purpose of this section is to discuss these entities to show how they fit into the Navy’s use of environmental information.

The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) designs, develops, builds, and maintains the U.S. Naval Fleet, ships, shipboard weapons, and combat systems. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia, NAVSEA, and is the U.S. Navy’s ship systems program manager, engineer, and technical authority. The largest of the Navy’s five systems commands, NAVSEA manages approximately 130 acquisition programs and provides engineering, technical authority, and logistics support to the fleet via its headquarters operations; six affiliated Program Executive Offices (PEOs); four Naval shipyards; nine Supervisors of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair; two technical warfare centers; and numerous subordinate organizations and offices. NAVSEA also administers more than 1,400 foreign military sales cases worth $16.7 billion, involving 80 countries and four NATO organizations. The six affiliated PEOs, managed by NAVSEA are Aircraft Carriers, Surface Strike, Expeditionary Warfare, Mine and Undersea Warfare, Submarines, and Theater Surface Combatants. The PEOs are responsible for all aspects of life-cycle management for these programs. NAVSEA provides the PEOs with total ship system engineering; establishes and coordinates technical policy, directives, and procedures governing ship and ship system technical requirements; and provides integrated logistics support. NAVSEA is the largest of the Navy’s five systems commands. It accounts for nearly one-fifth of the Navy’s budget (approximately $20 billion) and manages more than 130 acquisition programs, which are assigned to the six PEOs. The Command consists of a Headquarters organization at the Washington Navy Yard and a variety of technical and industrial organizations located throughout the country. The Command’s major organizations outside headquarters generally are

grouped into two technical centers, an ordnance center, the public naval shipyards, and the Supervisors of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair (SUPSHIPs) that oversee the Command’s new ship construction and in-service ship repair efforts. The Naval Sea Systems Command provides environmental engineering and technical support to:

• Ships, submersibles, other sea platforms, and craft

• Shipboard combat systems, including sensors, tactical data systems, surveillance and fire control radars, sonars, computers, guns, launchers, ammunition, guided missiles, mines, and torpedoes

• Shipborne components, including nuclear and nonnuclear propulsion, electrical generating equipment, auxiliary power generating and distribution systems, interior communications, navigation equipment, deck machinery, weapons and cargo handling, stowage, and damage control systems

• Diving and salvaging equipment

• Explosive ordnance disposal and explosive safety

• Ship systems integration

• Serves as lead SYSCOM for logistics research and development

• Weapons systems program support

• Materials-handling equipment not otherwise assigned

• Special clothing not otherwise assigned

• Automation of Navy technical data

• Naval material for which responsibility is not otherwise assigned

The Naval Aviation Systems Command (NAVAIR) is recognized for developing, acquiring, and providing environmental support to maritime aeronautical systems that can be operated and sustained at sea. NAVSEA’s philosophy enables the entire organization to operate seamlessly—to carry out the national defense strategy. Ensuring the highest readiness priorities while providing the best value to the fleet is a top priority at NAVAIR. Future readiness depends largely on technological superiority and integration of joint operating forces in joint battle spaces. NAVAIR is comprised of six organizations. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR); Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP); Program Executive Office, Air Anti-Submarine Warfare, Assault, and Special Mission Programs PEO(A); Program Executive Office, Tactical Aircraft Programs PEO(T); Program Executive Office, Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation PEO(W); and Program Executive Office, Joint Strike Fighter PEO(JSF). Within the Naval Air Systems Command the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) has a long history of technology transfer to both the public and private sectors. NAWCTSD is involved with the local school system, NASA

Kennedy Space Center, and the Federal Aviation Administration to share information and expertise. There are currently five Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs). CRADAs provide for the transfer of technology developed in federal government laboratories to the private sector. By sharing Navy training research, the public will benefit in having improved education and training. The Navy also receives valuable information in the exchange of information and resources. NAVAIR has responsibilities in the following areas:

• Navy and Marine Corps aircraft systems and components (including fuels and lubricants)

• Air-launched weapons systems and components (excluding torpedoes and mines)

• Other airborne and air-launched systems and components such as electronics, underwater sound, catapults, aircraft/missile range and evaluation instrumentation, mine countermeasures, targets, logistical equipment, and training and support systems for the foregoing

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), officially established on Janu-ary 2, 1992, is the Navy’s full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering, and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous under-water systems, and offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with undersea warfare. There are two major divisions of this Warfare Center—Division Newport located in Newport, Rhode Island, and Division Keyport located in Keyport, Washington. NUWC was formed by consolidating the Naval Under-water Systems Center, Newport, and the Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station, Keyport. In addition to its two main sites at Newport and Keyport, NUWC has several detachments geographically spread across North America: from Andros Island, Bahamas, to Lualualei, Hawaii, and from San Diego, California, to Nanoose, British Columbia. The Warfare Center seeks to provide the highest-quality technologies and services at the best value to ensure the Nation’s continuing superiority in undersea warfare. Along with technical programs, NUWC has continued the tradition that began with its predecessor organizations—demonstrating exceptionally superior performance in the areas of technical management, planning, business management, and human resources. The Naval Under-sea Warfare Center is the U.S. Navy’s full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering, and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with Undersea Warfare. NUWC has been assigned responsibility over the full spectrum of undersea weapons systems from Science and Technology to In-service Support—“Cradle to Grave.” One of the primary objectives of NUWC is to

establish and maintain synergy of operations and capabilities within the undersea warfare systems community. The NSWCDD mission is to provide research, development, test and evaluation, engineering, and fleet support for:

• Surface warfare

• Surface ship combat systems

• Ordnance

• Strategic systems

• Mines

• Amphibious warfare systems

• Mine countermeasures

• Special warfare systems

SPAWAR’s mission is to provide the warfighter with knowledge superiority by developing, delivering, and maintaining effective, capable, and integrated command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, and surveillance systems. While its name and organizational structure have changed several times over the years, the basic mission of helping the Navy communicate and share critical information has not. SPAWAR provides information technology and space systems for today’s Navy and Defense Department activities while planning and designing for the future. The Department of the Navy established the Naval Electronic Systems Command (NAELEX) on May 1, 1966, to provide the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps operating forces with the best Command, Control and Communications electronic systems. NAVELEX engineers, scientists, technicians and support employees worked to meet the demands of their mission. With the approach of the 21st century, the Navy Department was reevaluated to maximize its strengths, and a major re-organization took place. The Navy disestablished the Material Command, and in May 1985 NAVELEX became the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR)—an Echelon II Command under the Chief of Naval Operations. With the new name came new responsibilities. In addition to meeting the fleet’s Command, Control and Communications requirements, emphasis was placed on Undersea Surveillance and Space Systems programs. SPAWAR became the Navy’s Battle Force Architect—a new concept aimed at designing total systems for the forces instead of individual platforms and weapons. With the mission change, SPAWAR became manager of eight Navy laboratories and four university laboratories, as well as seven engineering centers geographically dispersed throughout the country. SPAWAR comprises five program directorates at its headquarters in San Diego, California, three systems centers—Charleston, Chesapeake, and San Diego—the SPAWAR Space Field Activity (SSFA) and the SPAWAR Information Technology Center. SPAWAR is one of five Navy Acquisition Commands. SPAWAR Systems Cen-

ter, Chesapeake, is located in Chesapeake, Virginia, and provides software design, development, testing, training, delivery, and support operations. Branch offices in San Diego, California; Sigonella, Italy; and Yokosuka, Japan; provide sailors, Airmen, and Marines with comprehensive, life-cycle support of all products and services across the globe and around the clock. SPAWAR Systems Center, Chesapeake, designs, develops, delivers, and supports integrated information systems for the Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. Logistical support for the operating forces is more complex today than ever before and keeping the Navy’s ships, submarines, and aircraft in peak operating condition demands reliable and responsive business information systems. Located in San Diego, with detachments in Hawaii, Guam, and Japan, SPAWAR Systems Center, San Diego employs nearly 4,000 civilian and military personnel. The capabilities they develop allow the Navy’s decision-makers and, increasingly, the joint services, to protect their own forces and carry out their operational missions. Information—financial, administrative, and statistical—is the lifeblood of the modern world. For the Navy’s tactical commanders at sea, information can mean the difference between victory and defeat, life and death. SPAWAR Systems Center, San Diego, is responsible for developing technology that collects, transmits, processes, displays and, most critically, manages information essential to naval operations. The SPAWAR Space Field Activity (SSFA), located in Chantilly, Virginia, provides line management staffing of the National Reconnaissance Office. SSFA personnel coordinate naval space research, development, and acquisition activities between NRO and other space programs. The SSFA also provides naval space and warfare experience to develop superior and affordable space systems in support of national missions and joint, combined, and naval operations. The result of a merger in December 2000, the SPAWAR Information Technology Center is located in New Orleans, Louisiana. It provides high-quality information management and information technology products, services, and solutions to satisfy requirements of the DON, DOD, and other government agencies. SPAWAR provides material and environmental support to:

• Command/control/communications (C3) (platform to platform)

• Undersea and space surveillance (includes short communications)

• Marine Corps expeditionary and amphibious electronics

• Multiplatform electronic systems not otherwise assigned

• Intelligence and intelligence collection systems

• Space systems

• Cryptographic and cryptologic equipment

In addition, SPAWAR has DON-wide responsibility for warfighting architecture development and requirements integration among the total naval battle force; to provide similar material support for the Marine Corps; and to provide management of DON R&D Centers.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the central research and development organization for the DOD. In this capacity it sponsors a great deal of research in all areas of the environment. It manages and directs selected basic and applied research and development projects for DOD and pursues research and technology where risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) mission is to develop imaginative, innovative, and often high-risk research ideas offering a significant technological impact will go well beyond the normal evolutionary developmental approaches and to pursue these ideas from the demonstration of technical feasibility through the development of prototype systems.

DARPA was established in 1958 as the first U.S. response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik. Since that time DARPA’s mission has been to assure that the United States maintains a lead in applying state-of-the-art technology for military capabilities and to prevent technological surprise from her adversaries. The DARPA organization is as unique as its role, reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense and operating in coordination with, but completely independent of, the military research and development (R&D) establishment. Strong support from senior DOD management has always been essential since DARPA was designed to be an anathema to the conventional military and R&D structure and, in fact, to be a deliberate counterpoint to traditional thinking and approaches. Some of the more important founding characteristics are listed below. Over the years DARPA has continued to adhere to these founding principles:

• Small and flexible

• Flat organization

• Substantial autonomy and freedom from bureaucratic impediments

• Technical staff drawn from world-class scientists and engineers with representation from industry, universities, government laboratories and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers

• Technical staff assigned for 3-5 years and rotated to assure fresh thinking and perspective;

• Project based—all efforts are typically 3-5 years long with strong focus on end goals. Major technological challenges may be addressed over much longer times but only as a series of focused steps. The end of each project is the end. It may be that another project is started in the same technical area, perhaps with the same program manager and, to the outside world, this may be seen as a simple extension. For DARPA, though, it is a conscious weighing of the current opportunity and a completely fresh decision. The fact of prior investment is irrelevant.

• Necessary supporting personnel (technical, contracting, administrative) are “hired” on a temporary basis to provide complete flexibility to get into and

out of an area without the problems of sustaining the staff. This is by agreement with DOD or other governmental organizations (military R&D groups, NASA, NSF, etc.) and from System Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) contractors.

• Program Managers (the heart of DARPA) are selected to be technically outstanding and entrepreneurial. The best DARPA Program Managers have always been free-wheeling zealots in pursuit of their goals,

• Management is focused on good stewardship of taxpayer funds but imposes little else in terms of rules. Management’s job is to enable the Program Managers to expand support.

• A complete acceptance of failure if the payoff of success was high enough.

ATO researches, demonstrates, and develops high payoff projects in maritime, communications, special operations, command and control, and information assurance and survivability mission areas. These projects support military operations throughout the spectrum of conflict. ATO adapts advanced technologies into military systems and also exploits emerging technologies for future programs. The ultimate goal is superior cost-effective systems the military can use to respond to new and emerging threats.

The mission of the DSO is to vigorously pursue the most promising discoveries and innovations in science and engineering to create paradigm shifts in defense capabilities. DSO emphasizes programs in medical approaches to biological warfare defense, biology, materials, and advanced mathematics.

This office develops and demonstrates information technologies and systems to counter asymmetric threats by achieving total information awareness useful for preemption, national security warning, and national security decision-making.

The Information Technology Office focuses on inventing the networking, computing, and software technologies vital to ensuring DOD military superiority.

This office develops sensor and information system technology and systems with application to battlespace awareness, targeting, command and control, and the supporting infrastructure required to address land-based threats in a dynamic, closed-loop process. IXO leverages ongoing DARPA efforts in sensors, sensor exploitation, information management, and command and control and addresses systemic challenges associated with performing surface target interdiction in environments that require very high combat identification confidence and an associated low likelihood for inadvertent collateral damage.

This office’s mission focuses on the heterogeneous microchip-scale integration of electronics, photonics, and microelectromechanical systems. The high-risk/high-payoff technology is aimed at solving national-level problems of protection from biological, chemical, and information attack and to provide operational dominance for mobile distributed command and control, combined manned/unmanned warfare, and dynamic adaptive military planning and execution.

The SPO focuses on developing systems solutions, along with the required enabling technologies, to counter current and emerging threats. In the area of current challenges, SPO is focused on affordable precision kill of movers, emitters, and concealed (including underground) targets. In the area of emerging threats, SPO focuses on active defenses against biological weapons, proliferated, low-cost/low-technology air vehicles and missiles, and GPS jamming. Supporting technologies include advanced sensors and radars, signal processing, and navigation and guidance systems.

The Tactical Technology Office engages in high-risk, high-payoff advanced military research, emphasizing the “system” and “subsystem” approach to the development of aeronautic, space, and land systems as well as embedded processors and control systems.

A great deal of environmental support for naval systems, ships, aircraft, and sensors is also done at non-for-profit activities supporting naval research and

development. A brief synopsis of the mission of these installations is given below:

Mission: To generate knowledge about the ocean and its boundaries and application of this knowledge to the solution of Navy undersea problems.

Mission: To (1) serve as the lead laboratory for research in the guidance and control of undersea weapons; (2) provide corporate memory and technical expertise in the area of advanced closed-cycle thermal propulsion systems for undersea weapons; and (3) provide expertise in the area of propulsion technology, hydrodynamics, and hydro acoustics for undersea vehicles and weapons.

Mission: To (1) contribute to fundamental scientific advances in acoustics and electromagnetics; (2) help with exploitation of relevant research results; and (3) conduct RDT&E and field support for solution of Navy wartime problems in acoustics and electromagnetics for surface, subsurface, and space environments.

Mission: To conduct a university-based program of fundamental research, technology advancement, and engineering support emphasizing naval applications of ocean science, ocean acoustics, and engineering.

Mission: To provide essential engineering, research, development; test and evaluation capabilities in support of programs to improve the efficiency and assure the availability of current and future Navy strategic and tactical forces; and to conduct related scientific and technical programs on behalf of other military and civilian agencies of the government.

Mission: To conduct research and development for computing support systems of interest to the Navy and other government agencies.

Mission: To conduct a continuing program of research, studies, and investigations that will provide information needed for DON management decisions addressing the development and application of naval capabilities, help the operating forces of DON improve their effectiveness, and develop operational data for use in force planning and force evaluation studies.