SAN DIEGO (NNS) — Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Commander Rear Adm. David Lewis released his strategic vision April 6 in support of the Navy's quest to ensure information dominance throughout its warfighting domains, specifically cyber.
Outlining SPAWAR's role as a leading cyber command, the strategic vision document aligns closely with the recently released Navy Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower (CS21). Cyber issues figure prominently throughout CS21 and are a key element of All Domain Access, an essential function for maritime forces.
"Emerging technology and improved cyber performance are inexorably linked," said Lewis to the SPAWAR workforce during an all hands meeting. "Navy continues to integrate cyberspace operations as an essential component of fleet operations. Effective, assured cyber operations must become part of our core mission to maintain our warfighting advantage."
This latest vision incorporates SPAWAR's response to evolving cyber threats that could affect advanced and integrated information technologies used by systems ranging from seabed to space.
All Domain Access, as identified in CS21, contains the following warfighting tenets: battlespace awareness; assured command and control; cyberspace operations; electromagnetic maneuver warfare (ECW); and integrated fires.
According to CS21, when All Domain Access is applied the Navy can "defeat anti-ship ballistic and cruise missile threats by making use of superior battlespace awareness to employ cyber and EMW capabilities in an integrated fires approach that defeats the threat before it has even been launched." Achieving that kind of end-state requires a common cyber baseline across platforms that support quicker, more relevant upgrades for the fleet.
"We're moving away from traditional 'cutting metal' upgrades to a process of delivering enhanced capabilities in rack replacement and software only changes," explained Lewis. "This approach reduces dependence on ship availabilities, and more importantly, increases the delivery speed of new capabilities."
As the Navy's Information Dominance systems command, SPAWAR designs, develops and deploys advanced communications and information capabilities. With more than 8,900 active duty military and civil service professionals located around the world and close to the fleet, SPAWAR is at the forefront of research, engineering, acquisition and support services that provide vital decision superiority to our forces at the right time and for the right cost.
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