Next week, the Surface Navy Association (SNA) will hold its 38th National Symposium, an annual event that brings together top leadership from the Navy, Pentagon, and their industry partners to address the challenges and the evolving threat landscape the surface Navy faces. As tensions rise in the INDOPACOM Area of Responsibility (AOR) and the Davidson Window deadline — the military’s projected period for potential heightened aggression in the region by 2027 — rapidly approaches, the Symposium couldn’t have arrived at a more critical moment.
In response to the mounting threats at sea, the Defense Department has set a benchmark to modernize and prepare 80 percent of the Navy’s fleet to be combat-ready within the next two years. Events like the SNA Symposium are prime opportunities for the surface Navy community and industry to work together in achieving the Navy’s goals.
To learn more about the SNA National Symposium, the surface Navy trends and challenges that that will be highlighted at the event, and the advanced technologies that are assisting the Navy in successfully overcoming undersea, adversarial threats, Government Technology Insider sat down with Tony Lengerich, Vice President of Naval Programs at Thales Defense and Security, and Mark Bock, Vice President of Strategy at Advanced Acoustic Concepts.
Government Technology Insider (GTI): What is the Surface Navy Association National Symposium? Who normally attends the event? And what do you expect to be some of the major trends and challenges that will be discussed at this year’s symposium?
Tony Lengerich: The SNA National Symposium is an annual event that brings together the surface Navy community to discuss and tackle some of the Navy’s most pressing challenges. It is attended primarily by uniformed surface Navy officers, Pentagon and Navy leadership, members of allied militaries, and industry representatives. This annual event is a prime opportunity for industry partners to meet and collaborate with Navy decision-makers and the sailors who actually operate their equipment in theater.
“One of the most mission-critical capabilities that we offer is our surface ASW low-frequency active/passive VDS platform for missile-guided destroyers (DDGs), CAPTAS. The variable depth active system enables long-range detection and potential prosecution of enemy submarines.” – Mark Bock
At this year’s event, I believe we’ll hear the surface Navy leadership emphasize the importance of ship readiness. A third of the naval fleet is always deployed underway, another third is generally in maintenance, and the remaining third is either returning from deployment or preparing to deploy. For the last third, the Navy aims to have 80 percent of those ships ready for combat within the Davidson Window.
Mark Bock: In addition to the discussions around readiness, I’m sure there will be a focus on anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities, which is a significant undersea challenge for surface vessels. The Defense Department wants to deploy a fleet with the modern technologies needed to breach A2/AD underwater barriers, including submarines, mines, and sensors. The department aims to bring high-technology readiness level (TRL) A2/AD capabilities into its inventory for combat-ready forces within two years.
GTI: Based on the threats and challenges that the U.S. Navy faces today, what makes capabilities like variable depth sonar (VDS), anti-submarine, anti-mine, and other A2/AD technologies mission-critical?
Mark Bock: Modern threats are much different than what we have faced in recent history, like during the Cold War and the War on Terror, for example. There was no strong focus on, or need to prioritize, anti-submarine and anti-mine warfare. Fast forward to today, large submarine fleets now pose a significant threat to U.S. operations and rival our forces in numbers. This has created a new, unique challenge for the U.S. Navy.
The ability for diesel and nuclear submarines to potentially impact U.S. Forces from freedom of operation makes acquiring and deploying A2/AD capabilities on our fleet mission-critical, especially given the Navy’s goal of modernizing and readying 80 percent of its ships to be combat-ready within the next couple of years.
GTI: It’s clear that a capability for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and undersea detection is now mission-critical for the Navy. Can you tell us a little bit about the capabilities you have created?
Mark Bock: CAPTAS, selected by the U.S. Navy as its long-range VDS capability, has been successfully integrated on a vessel of opportunity and is now in assembly and integration at a United States facility.
“Our VDS tracks below the sound layer and can detect and geolocate submarines at long range distances. The Navy doesn’t have that capability today.” – Tony Lengerich
We also specialize in end-to-end mine countermeasure (MCM) solutions. Our capabilities can detect and engage mines, mine-like objects, and seabed objects in real time. Our systems will find the targets, fix their positions, classify them, and attack them – all in one sortie.
GTI: How capable are we of detecting threats currently? If the U.S. Navy were to deploy advanced technologies like the VDS, what would it gain from a situational awareness perspective?
Tony Lengerich: VDS and new sonobuoy technologies will enable the Navy to detect targets at greater ranges. Imagine a scenario where you are about to re-enter an ocean area after abandoning it. First, you would want to ensure that a diesel submarine is not silently waiting nearby. If it is, you want to be able to detect it from a distance where it cannot detect or attack you.
Instead, to achieve that level of situational awareness, they have to fly a plane or helicopter to the area, deploy a sonobuoy, and potentially put pilots and crew members in a danger zone.
With our technologies, the Navy can detect targets from greater distances, allowing more time to plan and engage successfully without putting warfighters at risk. The further out we know an adversary vessel or ship exists, the better the chance that we can outmaneuver them.
Mark Bock: With these new ASW technologies, the Navy can hold at risk at significantly greater ranges, and the time it takes to orient and decide on an attack is reduced substantially. This hold-at-risk benefit is particularly advantageous in the INDOPACOM AOR.