Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said the Department of the Navy is advancing three initiatives to complement its current efforts in the innovation space and chief among them is the establishment of the Disruptive Capabilities Office.
“This new organization will push the bounds of rapidly delivering warfighting capability though the innovative application of existing and new systems, and harnessing today’s exponential growth in technology,” Del Toro, a 2023 Wash100 Award recipient, said Thursday during his speech at the Naval Research Laboratory’s anniversary ceremony at the Pentagon.
He noted that the DCO will advance rapid prototyping and experimentation and work with the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory’s Rapid Capabilities Office to deliver on DON’s contribution to the Replicator initiative.
In August, Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of the Department of Defense and a three-time Wash100 awardee, announced that the Replicator initiative intends to counter China’s military buildup by fielding thousands of attritable, autonomous systems across multiple domains within the next 18 to 24 months.
Another initiative Del Toro mentioned at the event is the creation of the DON Science and Technology Board led by Richard Danzig, former secretary of the Navy.
He said the newly established board seeks to bring together thought leaders to help identify tech platforms for rapid deployment across the fleet, and went on to cite the launch of a pilot program within the Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems.
“This effort will explore how our PEOs can operate under a new portfolio-centric construct to increase the rate of capability development and fielding over our present timelines, and will do so in a manner that leverages pre-existing authorities,” Del Toro said of the pilot program.
“The lessons we learn throughout this pilot program will enable all of our PEOs to better address the emerging threats and requirements under their respective purviews,” the Navy secretary added.
