# SECNAV Delivers Keynote at Sea Air Space Luncheon

### 9 Apr 2024

## Quick Facts

Good afternoon, everyone!

I want to begin by thanking the Navy League for putting together this fantastic event and for offering me the opportunity to speak to all of you today.

Thank you, Mike, and thank you to your team for all of your hard work, not just to put on this year’s Sea Air Space Symposium, but for your advocacy on the issues we face as a maritime nation.

I would also like to acknowledge our foreign delegation present today, including heads of Navy from around the world.

Allow me to extend an especially warm welcome to the head of the Swedish Navy, Admiral Haslum, who joins us as the newest member of NATO.

It is wonderful to be back at the Sea Air Space Symposium.

What an amazing event this has been!

Thank you, to all in this room—uniformed and civilian—for the important work you’re doing in supporting our Sailors and Marines in every domain—at sea, on land, in the air, as well as in space and cyberspace.

We face incredible challenges in every corner of the world today—from Europe to the Red Sea to the Indo-Pacific.

As we are well aware, Russia has now entered the third year of its unprovoked and illegal war of aggression in Ukraine.

And for the first time since World War II, we face a comprehensive maritime power—our pacing challenge—in the Indo-Pacific.

The People’s Republic of China continues to exert its excessive maritime claims through their navy, coast guard, and maritime militia.

In the Indo-Pacific, the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, as well as the amphibs and Littoral Combat Ships of Task Force 76, are patrolling the South China Sea. These warships provide the 7th Fleet Commander with both competition and combat-credible forces to support our friends in Asia.

And just this Sunday, in the South China Sea, warships and aircraft from Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States conducted a Maritime Cooperative Activity within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone.

Just as Secretary Austin said: “These activities with our allies Australia, Japan, and the Philippines underscore our shared commitment to ensuring that all countries are free to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows.”

And I am heartened that our allies from Japan and the Philippines are in town this week for the first-ever trilateral summit between our three heads of government.

By standing together, we can stand up to China’s excessive and coercive maritime claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere.

And as you all know well, in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, we are working alongside our NATO allies and Middle East Partners to ensure the safety of innocent, civilian mariners and to protect our commercial shipping against the Iranian-aligned Houthi attacks.

Since November of last year, Houthi rebels have launched more than 90 attacks on vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

And just last month, the Houthis attacked the motor vessel True Confidence, killing three innocent mariners and marking the first civilian fatalities from a Houthi-launched drone or missile.

Our Sea Services are American’s first line of defense against high seas international lawlessness—in all forms.

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), with embarked Carrier Air Wing 3, is one of many units defending our maritime shipping lanes against these attacks.

Last week, USS Gravely (DDG-107) shot down a Houthi-launched anti-ship ballistic missile and two unmanned aerial systems directed towards her in the Red Sea.

The Bataan Amphibious Readiness Group with USS Bataan (LHD-5), USS Carter Hall (LSD-50), and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit supported Operation Prosperity Guardian to deter further escalation in the region.

Last month, I had the opportunity to talk to our Sailors and Marines on USS Bataan when she returned to homeport in Norfolk, Virginia after eight and a half months deployed.

And I want to take a moment to thank the families and friends of our service men and women—thank you for your unconditional support, love, and encouragement as our servicemembers stand the watch, deployed and overseas.

We could not do this job without you.

Our Navy-Marine Corps Team remains at the center of global and national security—maintaining freedom of the seas, international security, and global stability.

The world is changing at a rapid pace, and to remain ready and relevant, we must never stop innovating.

At last year’s Sea Air Space, former CNO Michael Gilday and I announced the expansion of Task Force 59’s efforts with uncrewed systems in the Fourth Fleet AOR—the future of our hybrid capabilities.

We continue to adapt the expertise of our people in uniform to match the changing character of war.

This year, CNO Franchetti introduced the Robotics Warfare Specialist—or RW—rating into the Fleet.

RWs will be the subject matter experts for computer vision, mission autonomy, navigation autonomy, data systems, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

The establishment of the RW rating is a significant milestone in our journey towards achieving a truly Hybrid Fleet.

And the state of the world today highlights the importance of building a culture of warfighting excellence through integrated training environments.

We are witness to the culmination of our investments in training through our engagements in the Red Sea.

Last month, we executed the first Integrated Air Defense Course at the new Integrated Training Facility in Fallon, Nevada.

This iteration of IADC brought together the Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, including USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121), the ships of Destroyer Squadron TWO ONE, and Carrier Air Wing 9—facilitating training in the F/A-18, E-2D, and AEGIS simulators, and ultimately enhancing understanding of capabilities amongst our warfighters.

Our successes in the Red Sea directly reflect our commitment to high-end tactical training and the development of advanced tactics, techniques, and procedures spearheaded by the Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center and the Naval Air Warfighting Development Center.

To win the fight of the future, we must also embrace and implement emerging technologies.

The Department of the Navy’s principal governing approach is to develop concepts of operations and capabilities that bolster deterrence and expand our warfighting advantage.

Last September, I stood up the Science and Technology Board, with the intent that the board provide independent advice and counsel to the Department of the Navy on matters and polices relating to scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition, logistics, medicine, and business management functions.

The first task I assigned my newly established Science and Technology Board was to investigate ways to rapidly integrate asymmetric technologies that have the potential to change the very nature of warfighting.

They are meeting later this month, and I greatly look forward to their recommendations.

Research, development, science, and technology enable us to innovate at the speed of relevancy—and this innovation is the key to ensuring our competitive edge over our adversaries.

Today, I am pleased to announce the release of our new Naval Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy, guiding our Navy and Marine Corps’ innovation initiatives and science and technology research efforts during this decisive period.

I want to thank Rear Admiral Rothenhaus and the team at the Office of Naval Research for their incredible work in developing this strategy.

This strategy is a global call to service for scientists, engineers, inventors, and innovators from academia, industry, and government to work with us in solving naval problems to ensure our freedom and way of life.

The priorities of this strategy include strengthening maritime technological dominance—by realizing our technology gains faster, identifying and adapting to disruptors to our technology, playing to our strengths, and wargaming our own technology development.

Our strategy also includes building a culture of S&T excellence—enabling mastery of technologies and systems through partnerships with the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Postgraduate School, the US Naval Academy, the Naval War College, Academia, industry, and new teammates—partners and allies—both at home and abroad.

Lastly, the Naval S&T Strategy prioritizes enhancing naval scientific diplomacy—nurturing robust and meaningful relationships with industry and academia to develop technical ability and interest in naval problems.

We recognize that America does not have a monopoly on scientists and engineers or innovation, and working with allied institutions and collaborating with global partners opens the aperture to S&T talent and ideas, ultimately building global trust with partners.

It is a strategic imperative that we constantly assess the relevance of our S&T work to naval power and operational problems and opportunities.

After all, S&T is a means, and maritime dominance is the ends.

As Secretary of the Navy, my mission is to provide combat-ready forces and capabilities to the President of the United States, Secretary of Defense, and our Combatant Commanders.

This means ensuring our Sailors and Marines have the ships, aircraft, and weapons they need to deter our adversaries, and if called upon, decisively win our Nation’s wars.

But over the past forty years, America’s maritime shipbuilding capabilities and capacity have atrophied.

The consequences for naval shipbuilding have been manifesting for years and will grow ever more acute unless we reverse the underinvestment, both private and public, in modernization and industrial capacity. 

Right now, we build the most-capable warships in the world in shipyards that are decades behind the global technological standard.

This is an inefficient approach requiring far too much time, workforce, and taxpayers’ dollars.  

And it is certainly an approach that is wholly inadequate to pace our 21st Century competitors.

Our Korean and Japanese allies build high-quality ships, including AEGIS destroyers, for a fraction of the cost that we do.

When my team and I went to South Korea, we were floored at the level of digitization and real-time monitoring of shipbuilding progress, with readily available information down to individual pieces of stock materials. 

Their top executives could tell us—to the day—when ships would be delivered.

It’s an ethos, a commitment to constant improvement that is the foundation of their reputation for consistently delivering on time on budget—even during COVID.

The daunting challenges we face are also an opportunity to partner with a greater number of shipbuilders here in the U.S. and with our closest allies abroad. 

We have an opportunity to attract the most advanced shipbuilders in the world to open U.S.-owned subsidiaries and invest in commercial shipyards here at home.

This will allow us to modernize and expand our shipbuilding industrial capacity, creating good-paying “new-collar” American jobs that come with a healthier, more competitive shipbuilding workforce.

As the findings of the 45-Day Comprehensive Shipbuilding Review have underscored, too many of our industry partners are behind schedule and over budget on our highest priority programs.

Let’s be clear—I want American industry to thrive. As a business owner for almost two decades, I understand your perspective.

I am pushing our shipbuilding industry to invest in itself to get better, to be technological leaders, and to once again deliver platforms on-time and on-budget.  

We must deliver for the American people, because in our line of work, we don’t get to make excuses.

Of course, there’s work for us to do on our end as a Department as well. 

I am determined to address the longstanding challenges in our procurement processes that cause industry heartburn as they try to do business with us.

I expect our leaders to foster a culture of excellence and accountability across our acquisition workforce.

That is why I am directing steps inside the Navy acquisition community to make ourselves better and smarter buyers.

I have tasked my new Office of Strategic Assessment to take a deep dive into the opportunities for improvement identified in the 45 Day Comprehensive Shipbuilding Review I ordered at the start of this year.

I’ve also tasked OSA to develop innovative new approaches for how the Navy can better organize itself to procure ships more effectively.

I created OSA just for this kind of purpose—to provide data-driven assessments and recommendations that will help drive smart choices for our Department.

And I will be taking action in other areas that directly bear on our acquisition challenges. 

As my team well knows, I have been continually pushing us to leverage all of our existing authorities to be as agile and flexible in budgeting and acquisition as we can.

Within the Department of the Navy, I have directed my team to do everything possible to move our priority initiatives faster than the budget cycle.

For example, as you’ve heard me say numerous times, one of our top near-term force development priorities is re-arming our warships at sea via the Transferrable Rearming Mechanism, or TRAM, for Connected Underway Replenishment of our surface fleet’s Vertical Launch Systems.

You may be wondering why you won’t find TRAM in the FY25 budget submission.

That is because our team and I identified the promise of TRAM and resourced an at-sea demonstration with our existing below-threshold reprogramming authorities *after* we submitted POM25 to OSD last year!

That at-sea demonstration will take place later this year—an unheard-of pace for a capability with such revolutionary strategic potential.

If we had waited to POM for it, we wouldn’t be seeing it demonstrated for at least another two or three years.

Instead, we’re on track to begin fielding it in two or three years.

Of course, because it's not in the budget submission, we’ll need to collaborate with Congress to line up the follow-on resourcing to get to the final version of this capability and field it across our fleet. 

We are confident they will be receptive to helping us move fast on a capability that studies show will have the same effect as an additional 18 destroyers on the firing line.

And we understand that Congress is already taking up legislation to this effect.

The point is this: just as our country needs you in industry to be at the top of your game, I am determined to ensure that we in the Department of the Navy are at the top of ours.

We must meet industry in a common place of excellence. The stakes in this business are high.

Greater investment in our commercial and naval shipbuilding infrastructure, both public and private, is imperative to provide and maintain a Navy and Marine Corps able to defend our national security.

We are committed to working with industry to develop and grow the shipbuilding industrial base.

And we are doing what we can to create a steady demand signal to industry.

We must prioritize increasing industrial capacity to meet our era’s global challenges.

We are at a turning point in our Nation’s history.

We face a truly dynamic future—a future of both immense challenges but also of endless opportunities.

The maritime battlespace is ever-changing and demands constant adaptation and innovation from all of us.

We must continue to foster a culture of open communication, unyielding collaboration, transparency, and trust to find creative solutions to the complex problem-set which lay ahead of us.

Thank you, again, to all of you in this room for your commitment to the Department of the Navy, the maritime services, and indeed our Nation to ensure the continued strength and readiness of our Force.

Now that I’ve told you about all that is on my mind and what is happening in the Department of the Navy, I want to hear from you.

This is your opportunity to ask me questions on the important issues impacting our Navy and Marines Corps today.

Who’s first?

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**Speech by:** Carlos Del Toro

**Date Published:** 09 April 2024