Warfare Support System

Mission — Warfare Support System source

The Rapid Capabilities Development (RCD) program supports the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Branch by identifying and assessing available technologies that confront current and future irregular and expeditionary warfare challenges. Program development efforts focus on the enhancement/advancement of existing technologies to fill urgent and emergent capability gaps for NSW. Program funding provides for the development, integration, testing, validation, combat demonstration, and evaluation of identified technologies to meet operational requirements; service-common and NSW program technology challenges; and technology obsolescence issues of developed capabilities. The RCD program develops expeditionary/operational capabilities that enable NSW forces to conduct joint cross-domain special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, direct action, amphibious and irregular warfare, and fulfill urgent/emergent needs within a 9-36 month timeframe. As part of the Naval Coastal Warfare Surveillance program, Identity Dominance System (IDS) supports the Joint Personnel Identity (JPI) program. Maritime Expeditionary Security Force (MESF) have a mobile security mission that requires methodologies, procedures, equipment and the communications capacity to identify individuals who represent a potential threat as a means to deter and eliminate individuals from conducting asymmetric/non-traditional attacks upon friendly forces, high value assets and coastal areas that Naval Coastal Warfare (NCW) is charged with protecting. The Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) teams conducting Expanded Maritime Interception Operations also have a similar requirement to identify individuals. The development of a device to support identity functions is captured in the IDS Capability Development Document (CDD) and implemented in the IDS Capability Production Document (CPD). IDS units are used in the following environments: aboard ships, ashore at ports, the littorals, and extended inland field environments worldwide. IDS is employed in both maritime and very austere ashore environments, carried by individuals who are part of ship boarding parties and by dismounted patrols. These mission and environmental requirements demand the need for a portable, lightweight, ruggedized, and reliable system with intuitive and user friendly features. IDS biometric modalities may differ by mission profile, requiring the authoritative response to the On-Scene Commander/Boarding Officer on whether to detain or further investigate an individual of interest or engage in a more thorough search of boarded ships. Biometrically Enabled Access Control - Husbanding (BEACH) is an authentication capability to improve identity and authentication assurance for entrance to continental United States (CONUS) and outside continental (OCONUS) Navy-Controlled and non-Navy Controlled ports. The United States Navy Service Common Visual Augmentation Systems (VAS) Program of Record manages, procures, and maintains night vision devices, thermal detection devices, day/night weapons optics, and lasers in support of Navy combat capabilities with regard to the detection, recognition, classification, tracking, and destruction of hostile air and surface forces. The USN VAS Program also manages research into the future of visual augmentation systems and engages with Navy and DoD VAS stakeholders to ensure the Navy maintains competitive advantage over near-peer adversaries. Combatant Craft Replacement will provide next generation Expeditionary Multi Mission Craft that will replace in-service Expeditionary Combatant Craft. Combatant Craft replacements shall forward deploy and persistently engage in order to dominate in the Littorals and reinforce Distributed Maritime Operations Lethality, they gain access to as well as CLEAR the battlespace of unexploded ordnance and other man-made or natural hazards and SECURE and PROTECT critical infrastructure and their approaches from the sea for naval platforms as they conduct operations. These capabilities are critical to Navy employment of modern warfare concepts, including Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO), Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO), and Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE). Specific mission and capabilities will be identified in an Initial Capabilities Document (ICD) or Letter of Requirements. RDT&E funding will fund feasibility studies and procurement of mock-ups and prototype craft and craft and mission support technology to demonstrate capabilities prior to production craft procurement. The Diesel Fuel Outboard Motor Testing project supports the transition of the FY 2015 Rapid Innovation Fund "Affordable Multi-fuel Multi-engine Advanced Combatant Craft" program to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Force. This technology minimizes the types of fuel required to increase standardization, flexibility, and interoperability during deployment while at the same time reduces total ownership cost. Testing of this technology shall determine the operational viability and any changes required to boat design to ensure safety and suitability. DRAKE is the shipboard Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (CUAS) to meet the CUAS Afloat Top Level Requirements (TLR). Funds will be used to develop, test, and integrate COTS-based hardware, software, and advanced techniques into DRAKE; thus improving its capability to detect, identify, and defeat UAS that threaten ships. Upgrades include hardware refresh with faster COTS processors to increase processing speed and reaction time (NextGen SDR), a COTS tablet (CDU 2.0) to improve situational awareness, and evaluation of COTS antennas to improve detection and defeat of UAS. The Expeditionary Loitering Munitions Portfolio consists of two Navy loitering munition programs (air and surface) designed to meet an urgent Geographic Combatant Command Requirement. Air and Surface Expeditionary Loitering Munitions Projects will leverage and continue prior development efforts including an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Innovative Naval Prototype (INP). The Navy is pursuing commercial-off-the-shelf solutions with autonomous government-provided software and auxiliary systems. The systems will be expeditionary and deployable by small teams to support operations in various environments. The air system has transitioned from Low-Rate Initial Production to Full-Rate Production with the initial vendor solutions and is now expanding the industrial base for this capability by integrating government-owned technology with other vendor platform solutions. The surface system has transitioned from the ONR INP and is now in production. FY23 $4M Congressional Add: The NSW Unmanned Vehicle Development project develops, prototypes, tests lowrate production hardware / software solutions for Naval, Special Warfare (NSW) Underwater Unmanned Vehicles (UUV) and host NSW submersibles, improving integration and performance for NSW UUV capability utilizing NSW's MK8 & MK11 SEAL Delivery Vehicles (SDV).

Mission — Expeditionary Loitering Munitions Capability Development source

The Expeditionary Loitering Munitions Portfolio consists of two Navy loitering munition programs (air and surface) designed to meet an urgent Geographic Combatant Command Requirement. Air and Surface Expeditionary Loitering Munitions will leverage and continue prior development efforts including an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Innovative Naval Prototype (INP). The Navy is pursuing commercial-off-the-shelf solutions with autonomous government-provided software and auxiliary systems. The systems will be expeditionary and deployable by small teams to support operations in various environments. The air system has transitioned from Low-Rate Initial Production to Full-Rate Production with the initial vendor solutions and is now expanding the industrial base for this capability by integrating government-owned technology with other vendor platform solutions. The surface system has transitioned from the ONR INP and is now in Low-Rate Initial Production.

Mission — Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) source

New Start USV development: The Program funding for development of the Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) System Development, reflecting the Navy's vision of eventually fielding the USV across all unmanned surface platforms.

Mission — NSW Rapid Capabilities Development for CIEC source

The Rapid Capabilities Development (RCD) program supports the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Branch by identifying and assessing available technologies that confront current and future irregular and expeditionary warfare challenges. Program development efforts focus on the enhancement/advancement of existing technologies to fill urgent and emergent or other capability gaps for NSW. Program funding provides for the development, integration, testing, validation, combat demonstration, and evaluation of identified technologies to meet operational requirements; service-common and NSW program technology challenges; and technology obsolescence issues of developed capabilities. The RCD program develops expeditionary/operational capabilities that enable NSW forces to conduct joint cross-domain special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, direct action, amphibious and irregular warfare, and fulfill urgent/emergent needs within a 9-36 month timeframe.

Mission — Visual Augmentation System Development source

The United States Navy Service Common Visual Augmentation Systems (VAS) Program of Record manages, procures, and maintains night vision devices, thermal detection devices, day/night weapons optics, and lasers in support of Navy combat capabilities with regard to the detection, recognition, classification, tracking, and destruction of hostile air and surface forces. The USN VAS Program also manages research into the future of visual augmentation systems and engages with Navy and DoD VAS stakeholders to ensure the Navy maintains competitive advantage over near-peer adversaries. Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Navy funding provides the United States Navy Service Common Visual Augmentation Systems (VAS) Program of Record with the ability to maintain competitive advantage over the nation's near peer adversaries by leveraging the military research community, other DoD VAS programs, academia and commercial industry in order to transition mature technologies (active, passive, multi-domain imaging sensors, laser systems, display systems, optics, image processing) that align with US Navy and DoD priorities.

Mission — Expeditionary sUAS Development source

The Navy Family of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (FoSUAS) program supports Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC), Expeditionary Exploitation Unit ONE (EXU-1), and Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal (NAVSCOLEOD). The program procures existing and emerging technologies (including enhancement kits/payloads) in Fixed Wing (FW) and Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) solution sets for core mission requirements and are critical in providing force protection, reconnaissance and surveillance, and repair of battle-damaged facilities and other infrastructure. FoSUAS includes Short Range/Short Endurance (SR/SE) and Medium Range/ Medium Endurance (MR/ME) categories of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) with each category tailored toward specific mission needs/profiles. As such, a mix of Type/Model/Series (T/M/S) SUAS makes up the FoSUAS Program of Record (POR) as addressed in the Navy's FoSUAS Top Level Requirement (TLR) document. In addition to supporting the requirements in the Navy FoSUAS TLR, RDTE funding for the FoSUAS program conducts activities including, but not be limited to, engineering analysis of commercial systems, operational assessments, Field User Evaluations (FUEs), support of Urgent Universal Needs Statements (UUNS), cyber/IA assessments, development of SUAS Reusable Architectures (SRA) and other efforts to inform future Navy systems procurements.

Mission — Mine Expeditionary Response Vehicle (MESR) source

Funding realigned from Lightweight Reusable Underwater Recon Vehicle. Funding supports the development of unmanned systems for the Navy's expeditionary unmanned underwater Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Mine Countermeasures (MCM) capability. Specifically, it provides for development of affordable expeditionary remote stand-off underwater systems to support Navy Expeditionary forces including EOD, Mobile Diving and Salvage, Underwater Construction Teams (UCT), and Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures (ExMCM) mission operations. The equipment must be highly portable in order to support the Navy EOD technician to safely detect, approach, render safe, recover, exploit, and dispose of underwater explosive threats to include sea mines, limpet mines, maritime IEDs, and unexploded ordnance. Provides support for the Navy's high priority missions of Maritime Homeland Defense and MCM. This project directly supports Department of the Navy Strategic Roadmap for Unmanned Systems promulgated in March 2018 and addresses capability gaps defined by the Joint Service EOD (JSEOD) Initial Capabilities Document (ICD), Serial Number 671-75-05 of 3 June 2005, Joint Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Defeat Initial Capabilities Document (ICD) of 23 February 2006/JROCM 070-06, and the Expeditionary MCM ICD of June 2017. This project is being executed in accordance with approved CNO N9I Requirement #056-95-19, "Capability Development Document (CDD) for Maritime Expeditionary Standoff Response Family of Systems (MESR)," July 23, 2019. Additional efforts continue to execute the open competition process necessary to acquire and verify an EOD Response ROV capability focusing on user effectiveness and operational suitability to provide a ROV based target interdiction capability to address the capability gaps assessed in the previously conducted Expeditionary UUV Neutralization System (EUNS) AoA. This next generation capability is developed to decrease risk when reacquiring/investigating a potential threat (i.e. sea mine or maritime IED). In response to emergent maritime threat assessments ISO of INDOPAC Global Power Competition (GPC) scenarios, the MESR Program of Record (PoR) will initiate and conduct a Proof-of-Concept effort to demonstrate the potential ability to counter deep-water explosive threats as an ExMCM enabling capability ISO Joint Force Maneuver.

Mission — Naval Coastal Warfare Surv and C4I Sys source

Identity Dominance System (IDS) supports the Navy's Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) teams conducting Expanded Maritime Interception Operations (MIO) with a biometric capability. IDS provides the Navy with a means to collect and process identity information in the conduct of maritime and expeditionary operations. There are three key aspects of this capability: 1) Enable forces to rapidly identify unknown individuals encountered in the conduct of operations. 2) Verify an unknown individual's claimed identity. 3) Enable forces to update, manage, and share identity information on friendly, neutral, and enemy individuals in support of identity operations (IdOps). To support IdOps and achieve identity dominance for expeditionary and naval forces, the future biometrics collection and processing equipment needs to be smaller, lighter, and more efficient with respect to computing power and speed when compared against the current system. The equipment needs to take advantage of enhanced communications capabilities, be able to store the appropriate amount of data to collect biometric samples, match the samples against an internal database and reach near real time operations with connectivity to the DoD biometrics database. In addition to Navy VBSS MIO, IDS also supports the Expeditionary Exploitation Unit One (EXU-1) expeditionary missions. IDS must continue to mature and adapt to the changing threat environment and emerging requirements to support these missions. Biometrically Enabled Access Control - Husbanding (BEACH) is an authentication capability to improve identity and authentication assurance for entrance to OCONUS Navy-Controlled and non-Navy Controlled ports.

Mission — Congressional Adds source

C366 - Military Sea Lift Command and United States (US) Navy is exploring using a long-haul, Hybrid/Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL), autonomous unmanned aircraft for delivery of critical parts. The autonomous movement of critical parts and supplies within a Carrier Strike Group increases operational readiness and warfighting capability of embarked ships or aircraft. Development of these technologies will enhance operations by reducing workload on manned aviation and allow delivery of parts in contested environments where manned aviation could be at high risk.

Mission — Combatant Craft Replacement source

Navy Expeditionary Combat patrol boats, Fleet Expeditionary Security combatant craft, Underwater Construction Team (UCT) and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) replacement will provide second generation Multi Mission Craft that will replace in-service Force Protection Large, Force Protection Small, Underwater Construction and EOD craft. Boat and craft replacements will: conduct Maritime Security Operations across the full spectrum of naval, joint, and combined operations enabling access and freedom of action throughout the sea-to-shore and inland operating environments as well as conduct maritime Mine Countermeasures (MCM), counter Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), and all other types of weaponry, for protection of naval and joint assets required for sea control and power projection. Specific mission and capabilities will be identified in an Initial Capabilities Document (ICD), Analysis of Alternatives (AoA), Capabilities Production Document (CPD) and required milestone documentation. RDT&E funding will fund procurement and material solution studies, advanced technology development and studies, design development and test and evaluation and transition Small Business Innovative Research Programs, Rapid Innovation Fund Programs and other technology programs expeditionary science & technology objectives as follows: RDT&E funding will fund procurement and material solution studies, advanced technology development and studies, expeditionary science & technology objectives, design development and test and evaluation and transition Small Business Innovative Research Programs, Rapid Innovation Fund Programs and other technology programs.

Accomplishments & Planned Programs (6)