Secretary Del Toro Releases Science and Technology Strategy, Offers Path for Sustained Innovation

Secretary Del Toro made the announcement April 9 at Sea-Air-Space 2024, a three-day maritime exposition in National Harbor, Maryland.

The new strategy serves as sailing directions for strengthening collaboration with industry, academia, and partners and allies, to cultivate groundbreaking scientific research and accelerate delivery of technological innovation to the Navy and Marine Corps. It also is a call to service for scientists, engineers, inventors and innovators to work with the Department of the Navy (DoN) to solve naval problems.

“This strategy is a global call to service for scientists, engineers, inventors and innovators from academia, industry and government to work with us in solving naval problems to ensure our freedom and way of life. Research, development, science and technology enable us to innovate at the speed of relevancy — and this innovation is the key to ensuring our competitive edge over our adversaries,” said Secretary Del Toro. “The S&T strategy will guide our Navy and Marine Corps’ innovation initiatives and science and technology research efforts during this decisive period. We are indeed in an innovation race, and it is one we must win.”

Some of the methods outlined by the strategy for satisfying Secretary Del Toro’s principles include realizing technology gains faster, placing a premium on disruptive technology, integrating experimentation and wargaming with the strategy, and teaming up warfighters with scientists and engineers.

The new Naval S&T Strategy further differentiates from previous efforts due to the current backdrop against which it was created.

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps no longer enjoy the unfettered maritime freedom of maneuver required to defend our national security interests. Although our nation still boasts technological preeminence on the world stage, that position is being challenged by diverse threats and adversaries that have studied the American way of war, identified the capabilities needed to counter our strengths, and executed their own S&T strategies to develop and field those capabilities.

The Naval S&T Strategy aligns with three primary principles established by Secretary Del Toro:

Strengthening Maritime Dominance — The DoN will review and revise its current approaches and explore alternative transition paths for developing capabilities, especially in critical maritime areas. This will involve continuing S&T collaborations with allies and partners to leverage their investments, identify commercial technologies ready for naval use, and incorporate established entrepreneurial practices and capital investment methods.
Building a Culture of Warfighting Excellence — Warriors’ familiarity and skill in using their weapons and tools is part of their warfighting excellence, and learning from their experience in warfighting leads to better weapons. Naval S&T involves constant learning and improvement and contributes to overall warfighting culture.
Enhancing Strategic Partnerships — Like science itself, partnerships cannot be surged. Through scientific diplomacy, partners must nurture their relationship over time with committed collaboration from everyone to build trust and confidence.
The Naval S&T Strategy acknowledges that the DoN has long benefited from a strong organic, national and global research ecosystem at naval laboratories and warfare centers. The result is a rich history of pioneering collaborative research with academia, the private sector and other partners laying the S&T foundation for naval superiority.

To maintain this ecosystem, the new strategy calls for greater focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and outreach opportunities across the nation — to include educational institutions cultivating a diverse, well-trained talent pool for the Navy and Marine Corps.

Future strategy-focused initiatives include Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus developing a series of S&T Execution Plans to align with the Chief of Naval Operation’s NAVPLAN Implementation Framework and the Marine Corps Commandant's Force Design.

Read the Naval S&T Strategy in greater detail at https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Strategic-Library/.

Warren Duffie Jr. is a contractor for ONR Corporate Strategic Communications.