SEALs Hunting New Tech for Maritime Missions
7/29/2024
By Josh Luckenbaugh
TAMPA, Florida — For years, Navy SEALs were kicking down doors in the Middle East and taking out terrorists like Osama bin Laden, but with conflict in the Indo-Pacific the main threat going forward, their teams need a mix of old tactics and new technologies to support the Joint Force.
The geographic transition from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific means Naval Special Warfare operators are “going back to [their] maritime roots,” moving away from counterterrorism missions and shifting their focus to a potential conflict with a “technically savvy” peer adversary where the battlespace will be much more contested, said Cmdr. Marty Burns, program manager for surface systems in Special Operations Command’s Program Executive Office Maritime.
“We realize we’re … becoming the supporting force” rather than the “supported force,” Burns said during a briefing at the SOF Week conference in May. The emphasis now is on “extending the Joint Force and [identifying] the challenges they have that are [special operations forces] peculiar. That’s where we’re going to make our mark and fill the niche … that they can’t really accomplish.”
In particular, “our ability to process data at the edge and turn it into usable information to the Joint Force, that will be critical,” he added.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2024/7/29/seals-hunting-new-tech-for-maritime-missions
