Navy in space? Naval Research Laboratory commander outlines new tech goals

Well, thank you so much for speaking with us today

We're here with Naval Research Laboratory, Commanding Officer Captain Randy Cruz. Just diving right in, what new defense technologies

whether it's airborne or space or electronic warfare, are on the horizon for the Naval Research Laboratory

What are you showcasing right now at SAS, maybe? Oh, yeah. Well, first of all, Raleigh, thanks for having me

We've got a lot of things going on at the laboratory, everything from seabed to space

Here at the symposium, you'll find things that we're doing out in space

you'll hear about our compact coronagraph, which is looking at the corona mass ejections

the stuff coming off the sun, space weather, if you will. And quite often we get asked, well, why is the Navy looking at that

Why do we care about that? Well, because the space weather actually affects the satellites that are in space

And as the Navy is the biggest user of space-based effects from satellites

we're very concerned about that. So just like we are always looking at the weather here on Earth, when we know rain is coming, we want to make sure we're prepared

We want to make sure we know the status of our satellites that we're dependent on when we're deployed as a naval force out and abroad

So that's out in space. You come down a little bit closer down to Earth. We've got some work that we're doing with some of our aircraft

There's potential talk about this project called Laredo. It is something that launched into space on April 7th

We're about to turn this thing on, and it's looking at debris. in space. Why does that matter? Well, that technology could be something we bring down to

aircraft. And knowing that debris is about to enter an engine inlet, you want to make sure that

you shut off that engine before you destroy it. Potentially saving the engine, allowing the aircraft to be available for future operations and not having to worry about it being out for

an engine replacement. Come back down to the surface of the earth. We're doing all kinds of

work with ships and ship awareness maritime awareness maritime dominance Knowing where all these things are We got a program called Proteus It is an unclassified network of sensors put together

to figure out where all the ships are and what they are out there. Very useful. And then I don't

think we have it here, but we're doing a lot of underwater work as well. So as we work with other

service labs and other organizations, the Navy obviously is the most concerned about things

underwater for the Navy and Marine Corps, looking for mines, autonomous systems and things like that

So everything from CBIT to space plus cyber, the Naval Research Laboratory is involved in

What does that process of ideation look like at Naval Research Laboratory

Can you just kind of walk me through how a project goes from, you know, origin of idea to coming to fruition

Yeah. Well, so there's two different methods. About 80% of our work is someone is coming to us to help solve a particular problem

It could be, you know, NAVC saying, hey, can you help me figure out how to do better sustainment of our ships

How do I do better corrosion? How do I make sure that we're ready to deploy

And so sometimes there are specific things that they want us to work on. And those are very scoped and very easy

The other 20%, and this is the amazing part about the Naval Research Laboratory, and this is where the researchers start to shine

We have this thing called the BASE program. And this is where scientists take input from the fleet

They do some homework. They figure out what the current problems are and what the problems are going to be in the future

They put together these proposals, a 45-minute proposal that they'll pitch to the senior leaders

It's like a shark tank. And using the Haumeier Catechism, you know

what are we trying to solve? What's its relevance? Who's on this team

How much does it cost? How long it'll take? We'll vote. We'll rack and stack them. And then those will get funded if they meet the mark

Otherwise, they'll have to go get funded somewhere else. So a little bit of both internal and external What are some important collaborations that the Naval Research Laboratory is engaged in maybe currently in the future So it is all about collaboration For a long time for the last hundred years or so that the Naval Research Laboratory has been in business a lot of it was internal

We're realizing now more than ever, it is about collaborations. So hypersonics is a big topic, and we're working with the Air Force Research Lab on that as well

In July, we're about to launch a payload that's going to go to the geo-orbit

That is our remote service scene for geosynchronous satellites. That's a partnership with DARPA and Space Logistics, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman

that's going to go service these exquisite satellites out in space. Think of it like a tow truck to come service and adjust and fix these long-distance satellites

that require an autonomy package because they're so far away that if you send a signal

It'll be delayed and you kind of want an immediate response. There are quite a few vendors here at this symposium that we're doing business with

We've got all kinds of equipment, power plant equipment and the expertise that we're always open to partner with

There's a lot, perhaps too many to go over in the few minutes we have here

Sure. How does the NRL work with small businesses? I mean, you kind of touched on it, solving problems

but how does the NRL work with small businesses to address U.S. military needs for cutting-edge technologies

Yeah, so small businesses are some of my favorite organizations because they often focus on these niche things that perhaps get overlooked from time to time

from some of the bigger companies. So we're open to all, small, large, all-comers

and even universities if they want to partner up, we're happy to get involved in

So there are all kinds of problems that we try to solve, not just the big ones, sometimes even smaller

Think microscopic, think nanoscience, very, very small. All scales all domains that are out there we are looking at How has the Naval Research Laboratory changed over the last couple of years if you can speak to that

And how do you anticipate that it might change over the next few years

I think the fact that the laboratory has been around since 1923. We've been innovating

We're one of the original innovators. And so with all this innovation theater, I think the beauty of the laboratory

and the reason why we're able to exist for so long is their adaptability and the flexibility

The problems we're solving aren't easy problems, which requires you to have that flexibility

And so our ability to change to all the changing environments, adapt to the changing environments, is what makes us strong

The fact that right now we've got about 2,400 government civilians. Of that 2,400 government civilians, about 1,600 of them are science and engineering professionals

Of that 1,600, over 800 of them have PhDs. The brain trust at the Naval Research Laboratory is incredible

Pound for pound, this small group is punching well above its weight. How is the NRL adapting to this new world of cost-efficient, scalable, unmanned systems, and where do you see the future of it going in terms of NRL

Yeah, so when you say the future, I think the future is already here. We've been in the autonomy business for a while

In fact, we've got a specific laboratory, we call it the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research, LASER for short, where we've been doing autonomous systems research for a while

Everything from different environments, whether it be a jungle, the desert, or underwater

We literally have those environments in this building. And a high bay available for folks to fly autonomous systems

You know, the very first unpiloted aircraft was in the late 20s with the Naval Research Laboratory and with Dahlgren

We've been doing UAS work almost 100 years now. So what are we doing to get ahead of it

That's the question. We've been in this business for quite some time. well thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today we really appreciate it

my pleasure