The Secretary of the Navy Luncheon on Tuesday, April 5 was capped by an awards ceremony, where the Navy League of the United States and Secretary Carlos Del Toro doled out the year’s top honors.

The Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Award, which honors a leader of industry who has made a major contribution to our nation’s maritime strength or enhanced our national security, went to Jo Decker, vice president of business winning and strategy at BAE Systems, for her decades-long career “in driving solutions to critical technology challenges in the national security and public safety environment.”

The Albert A. Michelson Award, which honors a civilian scientist, technical innovator or technical organization for scientific or technical achievement, was given to Richard Jenkins, founder and CEO of Saildrone. Last year, the company sent its flagship autonomous platform into the eye of Hurricane Sam, a Category 4 that stayed off the East Coast in the Atlantic Ocean. The company took scientific measurements and HD video “that could transform our understanding of hurricane forecasting,” according to the award citation.

The award ceremony, which also included the Navy and Marine Corps’ group and individual Safety Awards, closed with the Secretary of the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award, which went to Navy League Past National President William A. Stevenson III for his efforts to reshape the organization’s board of directors and overseeing the implementation of active-duty membership during his tenure.

Safety Awards

Adm. Vern Clark Award Winners

Helicopter Training Squadron 28, Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, Florida

AWF1 Carlos M. Gomez, San Diego

Gen. James L. Jones Safety Award Winners

1st Radio Battalion, 1 Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California

Benjamin M. Lebidine, Camp Pendleton, California

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Navy budget “should be driven by strategy and not the strategy driven by the budget itself,” said Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro at the April 5 luncheon keynote at Sea-Air-Space 2022. “That’s why we’ve put together a clear strategy to deliver the lethal, resilient, sustainable, survivable, agile and responsive course called for in the 2022 National Defense Strategy.”

The budget faces likely headwinds in Congress, where some lawmakers say it doesn’t do enough, but Del Toro emphasized the importance of maintaining the trust and support of American taxpayers so each dollar reaches the American warfighter in the most efficient and effective way, while also ensuring the warfighter is equipped with the most effective platforms and equipment.

Del Toro said the Navy Department’s strategy is rooted in three guiding principles. 

The first, he said, is to maintain and strengthen the nation’s maritime dominance, so forces can deter potential adversaries and fight and win if necessary. The second deals with empowering U.S. Sailors and Marines by fostering a culture of warfighting excellence founded on treating each other with dignity and respect. Del Toro said the third principle is to strengthen strategic partnerships across the Joint Force with industry and with international partners around the globe.

“It’s clear, it’s direct, it’s concise,” Del Toro said. “In order to maintain our maritime dominance, we have to be serious about building and maintaining the right capabilities to win tomorrow’s wars. The National Defense Strategy for integrated deterrence requires us to campaign forward from the South China Sea to the Arctic to the Mediterranean and to the Gulf. And that is indeed what we are doing.”

Del Toro said right now the Navy has 74 ships deployed around the globe, including four aircraft carriers and two assault ships. Furthermore, he said, every one of these ships operates as part of a fully networked, agile and survivable fleet capable of delivering coordinated, long-range fires and unmatched lethality from many points at once.

“That’s the power of distributed maritime operations,” said Del Toro. “I strongly support, let me be clear, I strongly support Adm. [Michael] Gilday’s vision for distributed maritime operations and all aspects of the Navy’s navigation plan.”

He said the Navy plans to continue progress on new programs such as the Columbia-class submarine and Constellation-class frigate, and “we will also invest in our amphibious fleet, fully funding an additional LHA and an additional LPD [landing platform/dock] this year,” Del Toro said. “These warships are vital for the organic mobility and persistence of our Marine Corps. Always in high demand as a Swiss Army knife to meet the needs of the Joint Force, the modern amphibious ready group and marine expeditionary unit are indeed the ‘911 call’ for combatant commanders in the most dynamic and volatile situations, humanitarian disasters and combat.”

Del Toro said he is intent on maintaining as much fiscal transparency as possible — something he said is informed by “an abiding respect for the American taxpayer of today and tomorrow.

“We must build and prepare the most powerful and agile force that we can in the most efficient way possible while preserving options for future leaders to adjust to a changing security environment,” Del Toro explained. “We have not always done that in our past. I don’t want tomorrow’s secretary of the Navy to have to choose between building the right capabilities or maintaining high-cost legacy platforms that don’t meet our needs today.”

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The F/A-18 and EA-18G recently found a way to shrink a complex contract to a 90-day turnaround by changing their approach to contracting entirely, and it’s the kind of approach the Navy needs in order to work better and more efficiently with industry, a Navy official said during comments at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference April 4.

Capt. Jason M. Denney, F/A-18 and EA-18G program manager (PMA-265) at Naval Air Systems Command, said that the program had figured out a way to dramatically shrink the contracting process in an experiment, and it involved doing a few things fundamentally different to how they had been done in the past.

“[We asked] can we do a contract with industry, a full-up complex contract from start to finish in 90 days?” Denney said. “Yeah, we can. On the industry and government side at the beginning there was a lot of naysaying, a lot of folks saying it’s not possible, we can’t do it and here’s why. But then you say, ‘Well, let’s challenge those assumptions.’ Instead of saying why you can’t, turn those into what barriers need to be removed so that you can.”

As the program began to answer those questions, they discovered new processes and a new way of interacting with industry and government that shortens those time frames, he said.

“And this can’t be a stunt,” he said. “It can’t be something we do once, work overtime and weekends, get it across the finish line, and say, ‘Oh my God, that was terrible. Let’s never do that again.’ We need to work on normal working hours per day. It can’t be something that completely consumes us because it’s not sustainable.”

So what the program did is rather than go back and forth between prime contractors and subcontractors over emails or through contracting letters, they brought everyone in at the beginning of the contracting effort — not just the prime contractor.

“We brought everyone … to the kickoff meeting to ensure alignment,” he said. “So we can ensure everyone had the same mental model of what we are trying to accomplish rather than a telephone game two or three steps down. I told them to bring your concerns and questions.

“For example, one of the things the prime said when we started discussing the timeline for the proposal, they said, ‘Well, we have a lot of assumptions,'” Denney continued. “OK, have you discussed those with your sub? ‘No.’ Well, they’re sitting right next to you right now. Talk about assumptions and turn them into facts.”

Instead of hashing those things out over email over a period of months, the program believes they were able to accomplish most of what they needed in an afternoon, Denney said.

Improving communication between the government, the prime contractor and the subcontractor also helps to resolve barriers that come up, Denney argued.

“We need to identify the barriers early and ask for that help so that leadership can get engaged and remove the barrier before it stops forward progress on it, so it’s not a weakness,” he said. “We’ve been taught our entire professional careers, ‘Hey, handle this at your own level and take it to a point where [you can’t go any further] and then elevate it.’ Well, that’s too late.”

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The widening political and economic effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may help focus attention on the strategic significance and strategic needs of the Atlantic Basin, a top U.S. Coast Guard commander says.

“The security environment in Europe has changed. I believe with that change will come a broad demand for the U.S. Coast Guard,” Vice Adm. Stephen Poulin told a panel discussion of the maritime security needs of the region April 4 at Sea-Air-Space 2022.

“Most of our Arctic partners are in the Atlantic. We have to maintain strong relationships with our European neighbors,” said Poulin, commander of the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area. There is “a growing thirst” for U.S. Coast Guard presence “in certain parts of Europe, especially in the Mediterranean.”

There is an interconnectedness between Mediterranean security and Atlantic security, Poulin said, noting the Coast Guard has built ties with maritime services in Greece, Malta, Italy, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Algeria and Tunisia. Four of six Fast Response Cutters have been delivered to Bahrain, where they are based with Patrol Forces Southwest Asia, the Coast Guard’s largest unit outside of the United States. The final two FRCs are slated for delivery this summer.

The Biden Administration’s $13.8 billion fiscal 2023 Coast Guard budget includes $40 million to support maritime security issues in the Atlantic Basin, including illegal, unregulated and underreported fishing, illegal trafficking and transnational crime.

Poulin said that move would allow him to achieve more persistent engagement with all the Atlantic nations “but in particular our African partners.”

“This isn’t just about IUU fishing,” Poulin said, noting as much as 5% of illegal narcotics flow leaves South America and winds up going through Africa or Europe. There is a growing threat of armed robbery and piracy in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, he said, adding “that is happening where there is a growing expectation in the future of higher offshore energy production.”

Another panelist, Lyston Lea II, principal adviser to the U.S. National Maritime Intelligence Integration Office, said the prime security challenges facing the Atlantic Basin are climate change, illicit activities such as IUUF, and great power competition. Solutions, he said, include “meaningful unclassified data sharing and more partnerships between government, the private sector and allies.”

Lea, who said IUUF was a bad acronym and he prefers calling it “evil fishing,” said he was pleased to see so many policy makers taking IUUF seriously as an economic, political and environmental issue and not simply about “dead fish,” as one lawmaker told him in a contentious meeting in 2014.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The lead ship in the Navy’s new fleet of aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), has achieved initial operational capability, the program manager revealed at Sea-Air-Space 2022 on April 5.

The ship actually achieved IOC in late December of 2021, but the program did not announce it at the time, said Capt. Brian Metcalf, PMS-378 program manager.

“IOC was just recently declared and set on December of 2021 with the turnover of the last elevator,” Metcalf said. “We didn’t announce it. Some people know what IOC means and some people don’t. It’s an acquisition-specific milestone. The conditions on the ship don’t really change because of IOC. So, we did not make a public announcement on it.”

The Ford is slated for its first operational deployment this fall, Metcalf said. All 11 of the advanced weapons elevators have been turned over to the crew, he said, and a total of 17,000 individual elevator cycles have been completed.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Joe Biden nominated Adm. Linda L. Fagan to serve as the 27th Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. Upon confirmation, Adm. Fagan will be the first woman to serve as commandant of the Coast Guard, the service said April 5. 

Fagan currently serves as the 32nd vice commandant, having assumed the duties on June 18, 2021. The vice commandant is the vice service chief and chief operating officer, responsible for executing the Commandant’s Strategic Intent, managing internal organizational governance, and serving as the Component Acquisition Executive. 

Previously, Fagan served as commander of the Coast Guard Pacific Area overseeing operations from the Rocky Mountains to the waters off the East Coast of Africa. Fagan is the Coast Guard’s first-ever Gold Ancient Trident, as the officer with the longest service record in the Marine Safety field. 

Pending confirmation, Fagan is expected to relieve the current commandant of the Coast Guard, Adm. Karl L. Schultz, during a change of command ceremony planned for June 1, 2022, in Washington, D.C. Schultz will retire following the change of command this summer. 

“Adm. Fagan is an exceptional senior Coast Guard officer and nominee, possessing the keen intellect, the depth of operational experience, and the well-honed leadership and managerial acumen to serve with distinction as our Service’s 27th commandant,” said Schultz. 

Fagan has selected and the president has nominated Vice Adm. Steven D. Poulin as the Coast Guard’s 33rd vice commandant. Poulin currently serves as the commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area and is responsible for all Coast Guard missions from the Rocky Mountains to the Persian Gulf.

Pending confirmation, Poulin is expected to relieve Fagan as vice commandant of the Coast Guard during a change of watch ceremony planned for May 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C. 

PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The crew of USCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) returned to homeport in Portsmouth on April 4 following a 50-day patrol in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Coast Guard Atlantic Area said in a release. 

While on patrol, the Harriet Lane crew navigated over 6,559 miles along the southeastern coast of the United States, extending as far south as the northern coast of Cuba and east to the Bahamas, performing migrant interdiction and search and rescue operations in support of the U.S. Coast Guard 7^th District. 

The Harriet Lane patrolled the Florida Straits to aid with a recent surge in unsafe and illegal migration by sea. The crew interdicted six unseaworthy vessels carrying approximately 467 individuals of Cuban or Haitian origin and cared for more than 520 migrants aboard the cutter during a four-week time span while awaiting logistics for repatriation. 

The crew also assisted in two search-and-rescue cases after receiving notification of an individual stranded on Anguilla Cay, Bahamas, and another case where several people were stranded in the water near Cuban territorial waters. 

“I remain in awe of this steadfast crew. They answered the call on multiple occasions during our patrol, ensuring safety of life at sea while preventing illegal entry into the United States,” said Cmdr. Ben Goff, commanding officer of Harriet Lane. “This mission can take an emotional toll, but our team stuck together and persevered through every challenge and adversity presented. The crew shifted gears upon return to homeport and met the next challenge of readying Harriet Lane for an important maintenance upgrade cycle with aplomb. We are forever grateful for the outstanding support we receive across the Coast Guard and from our loved ones at home. I’m looking forward to getting our crew well-earned downtime with friends and family.” 

Following this patrol, the vessel will undergo a nine-month planned maintenance and upgrade period at the Coast Guard Yard in Baltimore. 

The Harriet Lane is a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter responsible for a variety of missions, including search and rescue, drug interdiction, migrant interdiction, other law enforcement and marine environmental protection. 

The U.S. Coast Guard national security and medium-endurance vessels homeported on the East Coast operate under the ultimate authority of the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area commander located in Portsmouth, Virginia, overseeing all Coast Guard operations east of the Rocky Mountains to the Persian Gulf. 

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Epirus, a Southern California startup, has incorporated its SmartPower concept into a directed-energy system capable of disabling the electronics of threats such as drones, says Andy Lowery, the company’s chief product officer.

The company, located in the VIP Lounge near the Prince George’s Exhibit Hall, “started to take a look at embedded systems, especially when energy conversion was the process,” Lowery said. That means things like microwaves and lasers, where power is converted.

“We decided to see if we couldn’t digitize them and basically create a digital mind that controls the analog circuits that do the conversion,” he said. “We were able to very meaningfully improve the performance of those conversion circuits” while also solving heating issues that dogged earlier versions.

One result, on display in model form, is Leonidas, which the company describes as “an electronics system with the power and precision to neutralize a single [drone] system in tight, crowded spaces or disable multiple threats across a wide area.”

It’s not through traditional jamming, Lowery said, but instead “it’s literally just zapping it, like with such a high electrical field that the electronics can’t work.”

It’s also scalable, in the form of Leonidas Pod, a much smaller version that could be carried by drones and deployed from ships; that system has already had a sale.

Epirus, in existence for only about three years, is moving fast.

“We’re on our third-generation system … and we’re ready to start operationally deploying,” Lowery said. “We’ve had four to five companies express interest in being pilot customers on the defense side, looking to deploy upwards to half a dozen systems over the next 12 months or so, of the big ones.”

MIAMI — Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless’ crew offloaded more than $160 million at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach, April 1, before returning to homeport in Pensacola, the Coast Guard 7th District said in a release.

Dauntless’ crew seized approximately 8,500 pounds of cocaine and apprehended 13 suspected drug smugglers with Dominican Republic and Colombian nationalities following a 45-day patrol in the Caribbean Sea.

The Dauntless’ crew worked alongside multiple U.S. Coast Guard assets and international assets, including the HNLMS Friesland of the Royal Netherlands Navy to interdict the illegal drug smuggling ventures.

“The Coast Guard’s strong international partnerships, counter threats in the maritime domain, protect each of our countries from transnational organized crime, and work to stabilize and promote good governance in the region,” said Lt. Paul Puddington, a District Seven duty enforcement officer. “We are thankful for coordinated efforts across the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Defense, Customs and Border Protection, as well as our international partners from the Netherlands and throughout Central and South America.”

The fight against drug cartels in the Caribbean Sea requires unity of effort in all phases from detection, monitoring and interdictions, to criminal prosecutions by international partners and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in districts across the nation.

During at-sea interdictions, a suspect vessel is initially detected and monitored by allied, military or law enforcement personnel coordinated by Joint Interagency Task Force-South based in Key West, Florida. The law enforcement phase of operations in the Caribbean Sea is conducted under the authority of the Seventh Coast Guard District, headquartered in Miami. The interdictions, including the actual boardings, are led and conducted by members of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Dauntless, a 210-foot Reliance-class medium-endurance cutter, patrols the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean, performing counter-drug operations, migrant interdiction operations, search and rescue, and fisheries enforcement.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Navy has to shift its focus from warfighting platforms to warfighting knowledge gleaned from information warfare resources if it wants to maintain an edge over pacing competitor China, says the admiral in charge of integrating that vital information across the Navy.

“Everything we do in the Navy has IW [information warfare] capability,” Rear Adm. John Okon, head of the Warfare Integration Directorate (N2/N6F) in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said at Sea-Air-Space 2022. “We speed the kill chain and deliver kinetic and non-kinetic effects to the enemy.”

When he sees a destroyer now, Okon said, “I don’t see a destroyer. I see a truck that carries information warfare capabilities. I see radars, communications, kinetic and non-kinetic effects.” The destroyer now is a platform with integrated technologies that “really deliver that warfighting capability.”

But precautions must be taken to ensure those capabilities don’t fall into an adversary’s hands. “The enemy is listening in on our phones and internet. We have to protect out intellectual capital,” Okon said, “Otherwise the next fighter from China will look exactly like ours.”

While the U.S. military lost its technological edge through the theft of its intellectual capital in previous decades, it still holds a knowledge edge with its smart and well-trained force. “China does not have a professional Navy. They don’t have professional sailors. That’s where our advantage lies,” Okon said.  “It’s not just the information but the application of that information into knowledge.”

To maintain the edge, however, requires collaboration among the military and civilians, academic and industry, and especially with partner nations. He cited the Warfare Development Center as a game changer and the Fleet Information Warfare Command-Pacific, recently stood up at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

“We cannot go it alone,” Okon said, adding that partner nations need to be included. “It doesn’t matter the size of the Navy but the capabilities of exquisite things that they are world class that we want to collaborate and leverage.”

But cybersecurity is key, especially in industry and academia. “It can’t be bolted on. It has to be there when you write the code,” said Okon. “China is watching us every day.”