Platform Design and Survivability Focus Area
Strategic Drivers: Increased range, precision and lethality of adversary weapons and a growing mandate to field affordable, modular, survivable and upgradeable platforms to support increasingly diverse, sustained operations directly influence this focus area.
Vision: Develop agile, fuel-efficient and flexible platforms capable of operating in required environments. Enable manned and unmanned Naval platforms and forces tooperate in hostile environments while avoiding, defeating and surviving attacks.
Description: This focus area is driven by the development and delivery of platform concepts, systems and component technologies that improve the performance and control of military platforms (including ground vehicles) to meet operational requirements under all environmental conditions. Platform mobility centers on understanding hydromechanics, aerodynamics, electro-mechanics, electrodynamics, materials and material science, structural mechanics and dynamics, intelligent control and the computational mechanics necessary to improve the design capability for advanced high-performance platforms. It also encompasses the systems required to provide and distribute power for the platform and its sensor and weapon systems. Design methods and analytical tools that enable the integration of these complex, and often contesting, disciplines into effective and efficient platforms are essential. The development of design tools capable of rapidly analyzing and evaluating novel air, ground and sea/coastal/riverine platforms with advanced system performance characteristics is a high priority. High-performance computational resources are required to improve the capability to conceive and develop advanced, high-performance platforms. Survivability will require hardened, reacting and damagetolerant platforms and system architectures that may include automation to minimize impact of a successful attack. An important element in this focus area is assuring skilled and experienced design personnel and technical specialists, trained to rapidly and efficiently apply sophisticated knowledge and tools, are available to the naval engineering community.
Objectives
Advanced Mobility
- Advanced platform design focused on efficiency, agility and affordability
- Autonomous and unmanned vehicle mobility
- Platform survivability and signature reduction
- Platform stealth
- Survivable platforms
Reliable, Efficient, Long-Range, High-Speed Platforms with Optimized Payload Capabilities
- Modeling and simulation tools
- Efficient ship design analysis tools
- Modular platforms
At-Sea Sustainment
- Payload and weapons movement
- Integrated comms
Affordable Fleet/Force Modernization
- Technology upgrades during midlife overhauls
- Technology opportunities proven through fleet demonstrations
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