Pentagon Needs Realistic Experimentation for Emerging Tech, Says Navy Scientist
By: John Grady
April 20, 2022 6:58 PM
The Pentagon needs a realistic experimentation program built in to evaluate emerging technologies like Joint All Domain Command and Control [JADC2] and hypersonic or directed energy weapons, a top Navy scientist said Wednesday.
Experimentation must be viewed as a necessary asset in mission planning and operations. Live, virtual and constructive experiments using existing platforms and systems and models are helping the Defense Department assess a way forward with JADC2 and other ambitious Pentagon programs needed soon, James Stewart, chief electro-magnetic warfare scientist at the Navy’s Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Ind., said on Wednesday.
“You can’t just assume things are going to work when you go out to the field,” Stewart said.
Speaking at the Hudson Institute online forum, Mark Lewis, head of the Emerging Technologies Institute at the National Defense Industrial Association, said constant experimentation at all levels “allows us to see what works and what doesn’t work.” He compared the level and rigor of the experimentation necessary to “test out pieces” for JADC2 to the Air Force’s Red Flag exercise — two weeks of advanced aerial combat training.
https://news.usni.org/2022/04/20/pentagon-needs-realistic-experimentation-for-emerging-tech-says-navy-scientist
