Enemy of the Status Quo
Navy research chief Cohen highlights
ONR innovations.
By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing EditorI
“I am the enemy of the status quo. I am the enemy of programs
of record.” That is how Rear Adm. Jay M. Cohen characterized his
role as chief of naval research during a research and development seminar
at the Navy League’s 2005 Sea-Air-Space Exposition in Washington,
D.C.
Cohen, in the fifth year of a normally three-year assignment at the
Office of Naval Research (ONR), presented snapshot descriptions of many
current projects at ONR, some of which are exotic ways to enhance Navy
and Marine Corps capabilities. ONR is responsible for basic and applied
research and transitioning that research to operational applications.
Cohen cited the Affordable Weapon System (AWS) as an example of technology
that began as a research project and now is making the transition to
an operational system. AWS is a ship-launched rocket-boosted missile
with wings that carries a 200-pound warhead and can fly several hundred
miles inland. It can loiter near the battlefield, available for targeting
in a close-air support role.
Other coming attractions described by Cohen include:
Free-electron laser: “Today we are lasing continuously at 10,000
watts. … [The] level of output of a free-electron laser which
works best for the Navy, at sea level, and in a humid environment, has
increased in order of magnitude every three years. We’ll be, in
the next five years, at 100,000 watts, which is the cusp of lethality.
And we believe within 3-5 years after that we’ll be at a megawatt.
This is way too large for the Air Force and Army; that’s why they
are pursuing solid-state lasers. But we’re building electric ships.
We’ve got the power, we’ve got the volume [and] we’ve
got sea-water cooling, which is critically important.”
Hi-Fly: A 5-year-old Navy/Defense Advanced Research Projects initiative,
Hi-Fly is a Mach 7 (seven times the speed of sound) missile that can
be launched from an F/A-18 aircraft or the vertical-launch tube of a
ship or submarine and fly 600 miles in 10 minutes. “I would say
that defines time-critical strike,” Cohen said.
Thermocline Glider: “We now have gliders that use the thermocline
(a sharp temperature change in a vertical column of water that distorts
sound propogation) as their power, and they are operating at sea for
months. In the future … they could be weaponized as low-cost,
low-endurance devices that not only tell us about their environment,
but lie in wait for hostilities to occur,” Cohen said.
American Flyer: A vessel that collects loaded air-cushion landing craft
launched from amphibious warfare ships and shuttles them at high speed
from 100 miles out to a zone near the shore.
Cohen concluded the seminar with a mission statement for naval research: “I
believe that what we are doing in [science and technology] is saving
some life and limb.”
For more 2005 SAS coverage, see page 47.
