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On Sept. 3, ASN RDA James Geurts announced the creation of Tech Bridges, a partnership between ONR and the Naval Expeditions (NavalX) Agility Office.

In the world of science and technology (S&T), getting a new product to warfighters in less than five years is nearly unheard of—unless you are talking about the TechSolutions program, which puts newly developed prototypes into warfighters’ hands in 12 months or less.

The goal of the Office of Naval Research's Undersea Signal Processing program is to develop signal processing algorithms that improve the Navy's ability to detect, identify and locate submarines in shallow and deep ocean environments.

The Office of Naval Research's Navy Undersea Research Program (NURP), in collaboration with the National Science Foundation, sponsors science and engineering graduate students pursuing thesis topics in core undersea weaponry technology areas.

The Office of Naval Research Undersea Weapons Program develops technologies for current and next-generation, offensive and defensive weapons capable of engaging submarines, surface ships and threat torpedoes.

The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps have been using simulators, virtual reality and video games to train Sailors and Marines for years. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is sponsoring research focused on understanding the cognitive effects that video games have on the human brain.

The International Cooperative Engagement Program for Polar Research (ICE-PPR) International Workshop for Sea Ice and Icebergs was held recently at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The workshop attendees focused on three areas: science and technology researchers who study data and create new algorithms or sensors; the centers that produce ice analysis products for mariners; and the operators themselves, personnel from the U.S. and Canadian Navies and Coast Guards who have operated ships in polar regions.

The Undersea Systems Focus Area addresses innovative affordable, persistent and stealthy undersea systems that leverage the asymmetric U.S. Navy advantage afforded by subsurface operations.​

A dynamic era in naval oceanography recently ended as the iconic Floating Instrument Platform — popularly known as FLIP — was officially retired from service. Built in 1962 with funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), FLIP helped generations of scientists and oceanographers better understand the mysteries of the sea, including internal waves, air-sea interaction and long-range sound propagation. Sadly, age and exorbitant life-extension costs resulted in the platform being disestablished. On Aug. 3, a solemn gathering of well-wishers watched as FLIP was towed, at sunset, to a dismantling and recycling facility. Last month, a formal good-bye ceremony was hosted by the Marine Physical Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Though retired, FLIP will live on at Scripps. One of its booms (crane-like arms for suspending instruments) will be installed on the Scripps research pier in La Jolla and used to deploy instruments. Also, artifacts from the platform will be displayed in a permanent exhibit at Scripps’ Birch Aquarium.

Gathered in a temporary maritime operations center in Arlington, Virginia, military, industry and political leaders watched multiple satellite images flash onto large monitor screens. These images showed three types of drug-running vessels hundreds of miles away in the Atlantic Ocean — a small, fast, highly maneuverable boat capable of transferring illicit cargo between ships on the high seas; a support ship with a crane for loading and unloading contraband; and a tugboat serving as the recipient ship for smuggling cargo into the U.S. The scenario was part of a larger July 2023 experimentation event designed to emulate drug-smuggling activities in the maritime domain as well as efforts to deter the flow of such contraband. Called the SCOUT Main Experimentation Event, the two-week exercise involved partners such as the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Joint Inter-Agency Task Force-South (JIATF-S), U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), and numerous naval warfare centers and industry and academic partners. Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus, who was one of several ONR leaders at the maritime operations center, said, “I’m truly impressed by the innovation, teaming and analytic rigor you’ve all brought to this exercise. Your pioneering approach is leading the way for us to learn faster with new partners to tackle the hardest operational challenges.”