U.S. Navy: Investment in new ideas, scientific research needed to keep technological edge
“Since that time, our defense strategy, our national security strategy had to be based upon technological superiority,” Stackley said.
Like past breakthroughs, future technologies will begin with intense discussion and collaboration by decision-makers in government, academia and industry, the board members said.
“It’s not an accident that the three of us are up here,” Paxton said, noting that all three of the speakers are in constant contact regarding Navy and Marine Corps challenges. The updated Naval S&T Strategy “is a cooperative and collaborative strategy that we truly believe will bring us success on the battlefield and collectively make us a better nation,” he said.
All of the participants stressed the importance of forums like the EXPO, which brings experts together for exchanging ideas, and the updated strategy, which helps turns those ideas into new technologies that can be used by the future force.
“It’s very important to understand where we should be going and where we need to be going,” Winter said.
Rayguns
Last Tuesday, talking to an audience at the Australian National University, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, Chief of Naval Operations, said that lasers which shoot down drones with precision and electromagnetic cannons which fire more than 100 miles, are part of the future of naval warfare. What is more, these innovations promise to be cheaper to procure and use than conventional weapons.
Adm. Greenert said that the experimental guns offer a significant departure from gunpowder and inexpensive to fire.
The Navy’s laser gun, known as a Laser Weapon System, or LaWS, is being tested aboard a warship in the Persian Gulf (see “A first: U.S. Navy shipboard laser operates in Persian Gulf,” HSNW, 11 December 2014).
“It’s working pretty well,” Greenert said. “Lasers, I think, are a thing of the future.”
He noted that the laser gun cost less than $1 to fire for ten seconds, which is long enough to burn out the engine of a slowing moving 50-meter (164-foot) vessel. This compares well with a projectile from a warship’s conventional cannon, which can cost $20,000, he said.
The Electromagnetic Railgun uses magnetic fields created by electrical currents to launch projectiles more than 115 miles (see “Revolutionary weapon to be showcased at Future Force EXPO,” HSNW, 19 January 2015). The Office of Naval Research said the Railgun is scheduled for sea testing next year.
Greenert said the Railgun’s range was about the same as a cruise missile which cost around $1 million. The Railgun’s projectile cost only $25,000, he said.
The laser gun was first deployed and operated aboard USS Ponce, a floating assault base in the Persian Gulf, in September and November (see “A first: U.S. Navy shipboard laser operates in Persian Gulf,” HSNW, 11 December 2014). The gun is controlled by a video game-like joy-stick and could be used against small attack boats and drones, ONR notes.
