A microwave/electro-optic (MS32) electronics engineer at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Corona Division, uses visible lasers to align various optical components on Aug. 29, 2014. US Navy Photo
ARLINGTON, Va.—Faced with enemies catching up to America’s military technological superiority, the Navy is drafting a long-range research and development plan that will focus on key areas the service predicts will drive warfare into the 2040s. Read More
Northrop Grumman X-47B Salty Dog 502 during carrier tests in 2014. US Naval Institute Photo
The Senate Armed Services Committee — concerned with the Navy’s direction for its planned unmanned carrier aircraft program — wants the Pentagon to oversee development of two new carrier capable prototype unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and restart testing of the service’s two Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) in a combined $725 million effort, according to a summary of the SASC’s markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 defense authorization bill released Thursday evening. Read More
Sean J. Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for Research Development and Acquisition, gives the keynote address during the 2014 Navy Opportunity Forum in Arlington, Va. US Navy Photo
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Navy’s chief weapons buyer called on Congress to rollback restrictive legislation that creates unnecessary bureaucracy and slows the development of next-generation military capabilities during a Wednesday appearance at the Atlantic Council. Read More
Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy (ASN) (Research, Development & Acquisition (RDA), is currently leading U.S. Navy and Marine Corps acquisition programs through the most fiscally austere Department of Defense budget in recent memory.
He’s helmed RDA since 2008 and overseen some of the navy’s more complicated shipbuilding programs. Those include the San Antonio class (LPD-17), the block purchase of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and the Gerald R. Ford class next-generation carrier (CVN-78), among others.
