EXCLUSIVE: Navy Weighs Creation Of ‘Disruptive Capabilities’ Office To Rapidly Field Tech To Fleet
By Justin Katz
The US Navy is considering the establishment of a “Disruptive Capabilities Office” focused on rapidly fielding existing technologies to address operational problems, according to sources as well as a draft document obtained by Breaking Defense.
The final details of this new office are still in flux and plans could change pending approvals from Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti. But a draft charter, dated for late June 2023 and circulated this summer at an industry event, stated the DCO would be a “unique office” capable of “rapidly [solving] emerging operational problems with a broad aperture unconstrained by legacy processes.”
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Further, if the Navy’s top officials sign the new office into life, it could trigger the end of the Unmanned Task Force, established by former CNO Adm. Michael Gilday in September 2021. “The DCO will leverage the UTF’s lessons learned, best practices and processes, and incorporate key UTF personnel,” according to the document. “Upon standup of the DCO, the UTF will be disestablished.”
A spokesman for Del Toro, Capt. Patrick Evans,told Breaking Defense today that, “it would be premature to comment on any internal deliberations or pre-decisional matters.” A spokeswoman for Franchetti declined to comment.
A source familiar with the discussions told Breaking Defense that one of the key issues the DCO would aim to resolve is the discrepancy between funding for systems as opposed to fielding and operations.
In the Navy’s current structure, funding for a given piece of technology is provided by one of several offices the service calls “the high nines,” a group of admirals and one Marine Corps general who advise the chief of naval operations on the requirements — and by extension the funding — for various ships, planes and other technologies. Their nickname comes from their offices being internally labeled as N95, N96, N97, etc.
But that funding doesn’t always lead to getting systems into the hands of warfighters, where the services can flesh out how the new tech can solve an operational problem. With this new office in place, the “high nines” would still fund — or in Navy lingo, be the “resource sponsors” for — various unmanned systems and other technologies, but the DCO would have the money and authority to see those same systems sent to the fleet for operations, according to the source.
