Technology Insertion OODA Loop Strategy for Future Flexible Surface Warship Acquisition and Sustainment

Abstract

The post-Cold War era is over. Demand for advanced future U.S. Naval capabilities continues to grow in the face of resurgent/rising military and technological competitors. The nation needs a more powerful Navy that incorporates new technologies and new operational concepts that combine manned and unmanned systems. The surface warship acquisition and sustainment process must evolve to address this challenge. It requires careful consideration of solutions—old and new—to efficiently insert the technology that achieves dominant warfighting effectiveness for these future warships over their entire service lives. The ability to rapidly transition advanced mature technology and confidently integrate evolving HM&E and Combat Systems into our ships to outpace the threat and assure naval superiority is an imperative. History is replete with examples of leading companies—and militaries—that failed to dominate due to miscalculations in the management of new technology and poor execution of operational processes. In the same way that Colonel John Boyd, USAF, developed and applied the concept of an OODA Loop (a decision cycle of observe, orient, decide, and act) to combat operations, a construct for a Navy Warship Acquisition OODA Loop can provide a model of individual and organizational learning and adaptation.