Navy Information Warfare Showcased at Sea-Air-Space 2024
15 April 2024
NATIONAL HARBOR, MD -- Leaders from across the Navy’s Information Warfare (IW) enterprise spoke at the Navy League of the United States-sponsored annual Sea-Air-Space (SAS) Exposition, April 8-10, addressing an audience at the Navy Information Warfare pavilion.
Sea-Air-Space is the premier maritime exposition in the United States, featuring defense industry leaders and major military decision makers from around the globe sharing the latest updates surrounding the maritime domain. More than 20,000 attendees participated in the event.
The SAS schedule was designed to focus on readiness and innovation, with panels covering topics such as acquisition, cyber, strategic sealift, leadership, shipbuilding, and manpower. SAS showcased leaders from across the United States Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, other governmental agencies, and industry.
Vice Adm. Kelly Aeschbach, commander, Naval Information Forces and the Navy’s IBoss, opened the IW Pavilion speaker series April 8 and highlighted the critical importance of IW to warfighting.
“I can’t say it enough. We are in demand, more in demand than we’ve ever been, and that will continue to increase,” said Aeschbach. “Our teammates and our warfighters across the IW community are our greatest weapon system. We are all about people and teams of people who operate exceptionally well, and we have to be prepared to operate in contested environments where the battle for information superiority is just as crucial as and sometimes more important than traditional warfare. So our ability to do everything in the information space is a force multiplier, and it enables us to make informed decisions and outmaneuver our adversaries in today's fight and in the future fight.”
Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare Ms. Jennifer L. Edgin started the second day with a discussion on the role of the resource sponsor for IW. Edgin also emphasized the importance of interoperability, collaboration, and building trust to ensure effective outcomes for a long-term approach to IW.
“The role of resource sponsor is much more than money. It’s about how we evaluate to ensure that you have the right strategy, the right requirements, and the right investment,” said Edgin.
Day two of the exposition continued with demonstrations from Sailors and civilians assigned to Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, Naval Network Warfare Command as well as presentations from IW leaders from around the fleet.
Capt. Matt Cegelske, commanding officer of the Office of Naval Intelligence’s Hopper Global Communications Center, kicked off day three of the IW speakers series by emphasizing the importance of what the command provides to Navy IW and the significance of industry innovation and expertise in enhancing IW capabilities.
"We need the new ways you as industry have figured out how to process the data, leverage the developments of things like artificial intelligence, and apply it to a better and increased decision advantage," he emphasized, acknowledging the symbiotic relationship between naval operations and industry advancements.
Reflecting on his tenure as a strike group information warfare commander, Cegelske expressed gratitude for the ability to add IW capabilities to warfighting. "There is absolutely no greater privilege and opportunity in the United States Navy for an Information Warfare officer," he asserted, highlighting the collaborative spirit and seamless integration of IW operations within carrier groups.
The final speaker of the IW speakers pavilion series was Rear Adm. Mike Brookes, commanding officer of ONI, who stressed the importance of intelligence to warfighting.
“ONI is all things maritime and the maritime matters to us all. We deliver the maritime expertise and decision advantage across the globe," he affirmed. "We operate across the spectrum of conflict, delivering maritime intelligence in peace and crisis with the intent to deter but, when push comes to shove, we will provide war-winning intelligence in a fight."
Brookes emphasized the integral role of relationships across all IW domains, saying, "Our relationships — all of them — whether with allies, foreign partners, Joint, industry, and academia — will remain the foundation of our ability to rapidly respond to threats in the maritime domain.”
Concluding with a resolute message on the Navy’s warfighting capabilities, Brookes emphasized "My goal for any potential adversary is that they wake each morning, calculate the risk, and decide that today is not the day to pick a fight with the most powerful navy in the world, the U.S. Navy.”
NAVIFOR’s mission is to generate, directly and through our leadership of the IW Enterprise, agile and technically superior manned, trained, equipped, and certified combat-ready IW forces to ensure our Navy will decisively DETER, COMPETE, and WIN.
For more information on NAVIFOR, visit the command Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NavalInformationForces/ or the web page at
https://www.navifor.usff.navy.mil.
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