In early March Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the establishment of the Naval Innovation Advisory Council (NIAC). Networked with military, government, academic, and private sector experts, the NIAC's advisors will assess future operational and technological environments and develop recommendations in terms of policy and resources to identify areas of opportunity for the Department of the Navy.
A supporting element to the overall SECNAV Innovation Vision, NIAC will help break down barriers and streamline processes that will enable opportunities and defeat threats to national security.
In a message to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command workforce, SPAWAR Commander Rear Adm. David H. Lewis explained these and other ongoing naval innovation efforts. “The establishment of NIAC follows a year of targeted efforts to increase innovation in our Naval Forces,” he wrote.
Lewis explained that SECNAV has initiated more than 20 separate memorandums that focus on areas that include open data, logistics, experimentation in exercises, adaptive force packaging and talent management.
In alignment with the Chief of Naval Operations’ launch of the Maritime Accelerated Capabilities Office (MACO), focused on moving mature technologies into the acquisition speed lane and getting capabilities to the fleet faster, Navy leadership's focus on innovation is a strong indicator of where we need to move as force, Lewis wrote.
SPAWAR has worked with the SECNAV staff to shape the strategy and is actively implementing these efforts, according to Lewis.
While there are many innovative efforts ongoing throughout the command there are a few high visibility efforts that over the past year represent the type of direct support SPAWAR is providing to facilitate adoption of the SECNAV and fleet innovation implementation goals.
The most visible of these efforts is the first West Coast Innovation JAM that occurred on the USS Essex March 16, 2016. This was co-sponsored by Commander U.S. Pacific Fleet, under its recently announced "Bridge" project, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Office of Naval Research, and SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific. This event was facilitated by and will build upon the successful waterfront's Athena Project, which empowered Sailors and Marines on the deck-plates to not only do their jobs, but help redesign their procedures, tools and workspaces to improve readiness, Lewis wrote.
Lewis also mentioned the Battlespace Exploitation of Mixed Reality (BEMR) lab, referring to the effort as one that is “literally changing the way we view innovation.”
The BEMR lab exploits immersive, 3D visualization technologies related to augmented reality and virtual reality and helps transition these dual use technologies from sources like the computer gaming space into new Navy applications. The BEMR team is working directly with the SECNAV staff as a key component of the Virtual Environments working group. BEMR is being positioned to become the Navy's Center of Excellence for mixed reality application development, Lewis continued.
SPAWAR has also taken a leadership role in defining and implementing one of the other SECNAV Innovation tasking memos relating to advanced manufacturing. This effort is being coordinated by the SPAWAR Office of the Chief Engineer and implemented with a cross-discipline team from SSC Pacific. The Joint Advanced Manufacturing Region Integrated Product Team supports the evaluation and risk reduction prototyping of distributed, digital manufacturing tools, techniques and materials. It reports formally to the CNO's Additive Manufacturing Executive Committee and is in the process of deploying test-beds with the Marine Corps to support new manufacturing, maintenance and repair capabilities, Lewis explained.
“Innovation is a common buzz word in heavy use recently across the Navy and DoD. It is reflective of the desire to adapt new technologies and capabilities to be more efficient while still meeting warfighting requirements. And while many commands say they are being innovative, it is exciting to see SPAWAR developing concrete examples of innovation every day,” Lewis wrote.