Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Next-generation weapons that reduce the Navy’s reliance on gunpower should be the primary goal of the service’s scientific and technological research, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert said this week during a military conference in Washington DC.
Speaking in front of nearly 3,000 attendees from the government, industrial firms and academic institutions at the Naval Future Force Science and Technology Expo on Wednesday, Greenert said that it was also essential to enhance cybersecurity and to increase stamina for the power and propulsion systems of unmanned underwater vehicles, according to Network World.
However, in his speech on the future technological needs of the Navy, he emphasized the need to reduce the dependence on gunpowder, adding that weapons programs such as the Laser Weapon System (LaWS) and the electromagnetic railgun were essential to the future of the force.
“Number one, you’ve got to get us off gunpowder,” said Greenert, adding that the magazine was “probably the biggest vulnerability of a ship… because that’s where all the explosives are.”
Since weapons like LaWS have a virtually unlimited magazine, he said, and are only limited by the power and the cooling capabilities of the vessels carrying them. Greenert said that reducing the Navy’s dependence on gunpowder-based weapons would improve the safety of the crew.
Furthermore, the admiral said that LaWs and the electromagnetic railgun would help save the military money. Laser weapons would cost one dollar per shot to fire, and the projectiles for the railgun would be more affordable to missiles that cost millions of dollars yet offer little benefit in terms of range, he explained.
The railgun was publically demonstrate for the first time at the Expo, Network World said, and Navy officials said that it is progressing towards at-sea testing sometime next year. It relies upon electricity instead of traditional chemical propellants, and is currently capable of launching projectiles over 100 nautical miles at velocities or more than six times the speed of sound.
The LaWS system has already been successfully tested at sea on board the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport ship, from September through November of last year, the website added. The Navy is hoping that the laser weapon system will be deployable by the year 2020.
Also during his speech, Greenert discussed his desire to see the improvements to the Navy’s fleet of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), according to US Defense Department reports. With the size of the service’s submarine fleet on the decline, there will be an additional opportunities and more requirements for UUVs that are smarter, more reliable and more compact.
Such vehicles do not only face threats from enemy forces, however. Greenert said that UUVs will have to overcome potential dangers related to their operating environments. He also believes that increasing their range and endurance, as well as making them to operate more autonomously, will translate into increases in their mission scope.
Greenert also emphasized the need for improved cybersecurity, and said that it should be a key requirement for all weapons and systems. He explained that intellectual property theft means that the nation is hemorrhaging its best technological advances and allowing enemies the opportunity to develop countermeasures to those weapons and systems.
Because of these potential vulnerabilities, security measures to prevent such theft cannot just be added on as an afterthought, the admiral said. He added that the Navy is counting on science and technology professionals to be at the forefront, both in the digital realm and when it comes to reusing or repurposing existing technology, the Defense Department reported.
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