Warfare Innovation Management

Mission — Warfare Innovation Management source

Allied/Coalition Maritime Environment (ACME) 0798: This project promotes interoperability with allied and coalition forces by facilitating maritime interoperability in both processes and communication systems, including emerging capabilities, to counter growing high-end asymmetric threats. Space & Electronic Warfare (SEW) Engineering 2144: This project is a systems engineering non-acquisition program to develop, test, implement Technical Authority (TA) products, and validate Naval Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), Business Information Technology (IT), and Space System architectures to support naval, joint and coalition missions across normal, contested, and degraded cyber/operational environments. The objective of this project is performed through multiple tasks that ensure development and delivery of Naval Information Warfare (IW) capabilities that are well integrated, interoperable, secure, and resilient to meet validated warfighting requirements. NAVWAR leads SECNAV guidance under Cybersecurity Technical Authority (CSTA) to define and employ a uniform objective recursive approach employing Cyber Ready strategy shifting away from a compliance only methodology. Efforts will automate program engineering reviews and speed IW capability certification and authorization to overmatch our adversaries in a Cyber contested environment. Fleet Experimentation 3319: The U.S. Navy's Fleet Experimentation (FLEX) project advances operational and tactical warfighter capabilities through the experimentation of high payoff initiatives, technologies and concepts, Fleet Concepts of Operations (CONOPS), doctrine, and new tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP). The primary focus of FLEX between 2026 and 2030 is to address priority warfighting gaps identified by the four-star Fleet Commanders through the execution of experimentation events focused on materiel/non-materiel capabilities. Trident Warrior Project 3320: The U.S. Navy's Trident Warrior (TW) experimentation campaign enables early delivery of capabilities to the warfighter via Fleet-directed Trident Warrior operational events with an emphasis on United States Fleet Forces/Commander Pacific Fleet (USFF/CPF) directed focus areas.

Mission — Allied/Coalition Maritime Environment (ACME) source

The ACME program advances Information Warfare (IW) to include Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR); Electronic Warfare (EW); and Cyber Warfare, interoperability with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States (AUSCANNZUKUS), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and other Allied and Coalition partners. The program determines maritime operational gaps with our allies, identifies Doctrine, Organization, Training, Material, Leadership, Personnel, and Facilities (DOTMLPF) solutions with the potential to fill those gaps, and assesses these solutions and associated concepts of operation in laboratory and at-sea environments. The ACME program includes integration and testing in support of Allied and Coalition warfighting capabilities, including interoperability testing of IW equipment. Allied and Coalition interoperability is critical for future maritime operations, especially as the United States Navy cooperatively works towards a federated environment leveraging initiatives such as Federated Mission Networking (FMN), Secret and Below Releasable Environment (SABRE), and Combatant Command solutions such as Indo-Pacific Command Mission Network and Cooperative Partner Environment. Currently, connectivity with AUSCANNZUKUS and other Allied/Coalition forces is focused on traditional paths, requiring extensive backhaul through ashore infrastructure. Higher bandwidth solutions suitable for use over tactical networks require development and assessment for emerging coalition and joint interoperability requirements, such as Network Operations Without Shore (NOWS), Denied, Degraded, Intermittent and Low-bandwidth (DDIL) operations, and to counter Anti-Access Area Denial (A2/AD) threats. Increases in data throughput are required for the effective exchange of rich IW data sets and services via Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) within the limitations of High Frequency (HF), Ultra-High Frequency (UHF), and other portions of the radio frequency spectrum, coupled with appropriate Information Assurance and Computer Network Defense (IA/CND) mechanisms. Development and assessment of potential solutions will integrate improved IP capabilities with the Advanced Digital Network Systems (ADNS) and existing international standards (e.g. Allied Communications Publication 200, NATO Standardization Agreements 5066 and 4691). The continued development and refinement of advanced tactical networking technologies and protocols, to include Low Probability of Intercept (LPI), Low Probability of Detection (LPD), and Anti-Jam (AJ) capabilities as well as Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) standards, will provide for a significant improvement in secure data sharing within, and between, coalition maritime elements. Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXperiment (CWIX) has been integrated within the ACME program. CWIX efforts are focused on assessing federated Coalition capabilities within the NATO command construct via connected Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) capabilities resident in the Combined Federated Battle Laboratories Network (CFBLNet). CWIX also resources engineering activities in cooperation with PEO C4I to integrate USN Expeditionary Mission Partner Environment with US Air Force (USAF) Mission Partner Capabilities Office (MPCO) Enterprise Mission Partner Environment efforts. Additionally, CWIX resourcing enables assessment of NATO Federated Mission Networking Spiral Specifications as they relate to USN Programs of Record via the Coalition Interoperability Assurance and Validation (CIAV) construct in conjunction with Joint Staff J6. Australia, UK, US (AUKUS) Electronic Warfare (EW) efforts have been integrated starting in FY24. Specific efforts focus on: Threat Assessment, Blue Force Data Analysis, Tactical Data Movement, Effects optimization, and Scenario development in Synthetic Environments.

Mission — Space & Elec Warfare Engineering source

To support Navy objectives in advancing Information Warfare (IW) capabilities, the Space and Electronic Warfare (SEW) Engineering project primary functions are: Develop the architectures, specifications and standards, tools, and processes to support a single integrated Navy Cybersecurity plan. Develop cybersecurity engineering criteria within Navy specific guidance to drive common and consistent implementation of security controls within a threat informed mission impact approach across current and future Navy Programs of Record/projects. This eliminates redundancies and inefficiencies characteristic of previous stove-pipe development efforts in which each system addressed security individually. These efforts enable a standardized approach to improve the Navy's cyber resiliency to Cyber Adversary's weaponization of IT/OT susceptibility to attack. Provide the cybersecurity vulnerability and functional test standards, which supports cybersecurity test requirements and the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence (C4I) components of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWARSYSCOM) Information Warfare (IW) Kill Chain Testing for SYSCOM Red Team. NAVWAR develops and deploys innovative Naval approach for rapid delivery of software applications with emphasis on security & automation via Certified Continuous Integration (CI) / Continuous Delivery (CD) pipeline tools based upon NAVWAR designed SECDEVOPS services under SECNAV Rapid Assess & Incorporate Software Engineering (RAISE). This combination of Systems Commands functions, services and tools ensures Navy platforms in operational maritime environments can effectively defend and "fight through" cyber adversary attacks under a framework of mission thread analysis and assessment. NAVWAR establishes an integrated Enterprise Architecture to support design, development and delivery of integrated Navy Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR), Business Information Technology (IT), and Space System capabilities. This architecture reflects current (as-is) and future (target) end states to support technical analyses, program planning, and enterprise-level investment decisions across IW capabilities on both ashore and afloat platforms. Provides engineering tools and processes to drive rigorous systems engineering discipline across the acquisition lifecycle to support rapid development and delivery of secure and interoperable C4ISR, Business IT, and Space Systems capabilities that meet Fleet requirements. Conduct Systems Engineering Technical Reviews (SETRs) to provide independent, objective assessments and certifications of technical maturity and compliance with applicable architectures, specifications and standards across IW capabilities.

Mission — Fleet Experimentation source

Mission: The Fleet Experimentation (FLEX) program seeks out and examines potential materiel and non-materiel solutions (initiatives) to the Fleet's highest priority warfighting gaps and generates data-driven findings and actionable recommendations to resolve or mitigate those gaps. As part of a multi-year campaign, 10 to 15 major analytic experimentation activities take place annually that include workshops, war-games, and with a focus on live force, operationally oriented at-sea events. The FLEX Program is owned by Commander U.S. Fleet Forces Command (CUSFFC), Commander U.S. Pacific Fleet (CPF), and Commander U.S. Naval Forces Europe - Africa (CNE-AF). The three four-star Fleet Commanders identify the Fleet priorities and warfighting gaps for FLEX to address, and Navy Warfare Development Center (NWDC), as the Executive Agent (EA), designs, plans, executes, analyzes, and reports on the FLEX initiatives. Commanders' FLEX guidance is linked to the January 2024 Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Navigation Plan (NAVPLAN) direction to continue refinement of concepts and capabilities through experimentation. FLEX priorities are also aligned to the Warfighting Integration NAVPLAN Implementation Framework (WIN NIF) Operating Review for the CNO that identifies the North Star, supporting pillars, and approach. FLEX initiatives are tied to CNO-approved Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) and Joint Warfighting Concept (JWC) concept capability requirements, Fleet warfighting gaps, and Key Operational Problems (KOP). FLEX aligns with National Defense Strategy priorities, lines of effort 1 (lethality) and 3 (reform), and numerous other strategic guidance documents highlighting the need to increase organizational learning and capability development in experimentation, wargames, and exercises. USFFC N8/N9-manages the FLEX investment -- $12.585M (FY26) to support planning, execution, analysis, and reporting for analytically rigorous experiments leveraging Limited Objective Experiments (LOE) and scheduled fleet exercises.

Mission — TRIDENT Warrior source

U.S. Navy's Trident Warrior (TW) experiment campaign enables early delivery of Information Warfare (IW) capabilities to the warfighter via Fleet-directed TW operational events. It integrates stand-alone systems and efforts to achieve enhanced capabilities and demonstrates these capabilities in operational environments. This places innovative technologies into the hands of the warfighter to evaluate their effectiveness. Additionally, it develops supporting doctrine and Concepts of Operation to improve warfighting effectiveness. Coordinates IW efforts with other Service/Joint/Department of Defense/National efforts to ensure Joint/Interagency/ Allied/Coalition applicability and interoperability.

Accomplishments & Planned Programs (1)