DVIDS – News – NUWC Division Newport, Navy priorities focus of Undersea Technology Innovation Consortium Industry Day

NEWPORT, R.I. – More than 200 industry partners gathered for an Industry Day with the Undersea Technology Innovation Consortium (UTIC) to learn about the newest collaboration from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport and the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). The event was held at the Wyndham Newport Hotel in Middletown, Rhode Island, on Oct. 15.

“These events not only provide our industry partners with specific requests from NAVSEA and warfare center engineers, but they also provide a high-level perspective on what’s going on in the Navy,” said Tom Carroll, program manager in Division Newport’s Strategic Planning Office and liaison with UTIC. “Industry days are crucial in the relationship between the Navy and UTIC because they align us for successful collaboration.”

Rear Adm. Michael Van Poots, commander of the Undersea Warfighting Development Center in Groton, Connecticut, presented some of the Navy’s current areas of interest including robotics; unmanned undersea vehicles and hybrid systems; artificial intelligence; large language models; and cross-domain command, control, and communications.

Underscoring the importance of problem-solving, Van Poots referenced the USS Florida (SSGN 728), a 40-year-old submarine operating in a strike mission after attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea — a mission beyond its original design.

“When solving complex problems if you’re strategic about it you can solve problems well beyond tomorrow. Have the foresight to be prepared. No other submarine force in the world can take a 40-year-old ship and do a strike mission on a moment’s notice and be successful,” Van Poots said.

“We’re only as good as our best counteraction. We have to lean in and take counteraction faster and better than our adversary. We’ve demonstrated this in the Red Sea,” he said. “Unless you take action you’re not advancing things, you’re not moving the organization forward.”

Following the admiral’s address, NAVSEA and warfare center engineers shared technical problems to be solved through industry partnership. Topics ran the gamut of undersea warfare technologies including designs for portions of a next-generation submarine dry deck shelter, a test bed engine, a lightweight torpedo afterbody technical data package refresh, a prototype to launch multiple devices from a torpedo tube, a pressurized rescue module atmospheric sensing system, and imaging for a future multi-function submarine mast.

Mike Cockey, deputy director of Undersea Warfare for NUWC/Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Headquarters, detailed the role of undersea warfare in strategic competition. He noted how the 2012 National Defense Strategy involved undersea warfare in four or five priorities compared with the 2022 National Defense Strategy where undersea warfare plays a key role in all priorities.

Molly Donohue Magee, UTIC’s chief executive officer, said that the consortium has briefed 116 topics and awarded funding to 97 projects and 66 companies. So far, $800 million has been awarded with 59% of awards going to small businesses with non-traditional partners making up 67% of awardees.

The consortium has succeeded in giving the Navy access to unique technologies in response to fleet challenges with Industry Days being an integral part of the collaborative process.

More information on UTIC can be found here: https://www.underseatech.org/

NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869. Commanded by Capt. Chad Hennings, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher’s Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.

Join our team! NUWC Division Newport, one of the 20 largest employers in Rhode Island, employs a diverse, highly trained, educated, and skilled workforce. We are continuously looking for engineers, scientists, and other STEM professionals, as well as talented business, finance, logistics and other support experts who wish to be at the forefront of undersea research and development. Please connect with NUWC Division Newport Recruiting at this site- https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NUWC-Newport/Career-Opportunities/ and follow us on LinkedIn @NUWC-Newport and on Facebook @NUWCNewport.