Ship Concept Advanced Design

Project 3376 - Strategic Sealift Research and Development - Develops new concepts and technologies which can be applied to or will enable future strategic sealift, and Seabasing systems. The technologies include ship configuration concepts, equipment to increase cargo handling and cargo loading/unloading rates (including commercial and merchant ship systems), improved man/machine interfaces, improved structural configurations and materials, and Logistics-Over-the-Shore (LOTS) equipment and system improvements. Prior Years include: FY2016 and prior years (FY2014 and earlier) efforts financed under the National Defense Sealift Fund (NDSF) BA 04 Project 3116 Strategic Sealift Research and Development; FY2015, FY2017, FY2019 thru FY2024 efforts financed under this program element, RDT&E,N BA04, Project 3376 (Strategic Sealift); and FY2018 efforts financed under RDT&E,N BA 04 Project 9999/C403 (Congressional Adds). The FY2026 budget for Strategic Sealift Research and Development included $0 thousand of discretionary (zeroed out as part of the Congressional Mark for Reconciliation Funding Incongruence) and $42,200 thousand of mandatory (reconciliation) for a total of $42,200 thousand. The mandatory funds supported the T-AKE Expeditionary Reload Equipment. The FY2027 request for Strategic Sealift includes $184,191 thousand of discretionary funding.

AS(X) will conduct steady state and wartime sustained, forward-based tending, resupply, depot and intermediate level repair operations on submarines while anchored or pier side. In steady state, AS(X) will provide pier side support in a forward deployed submarine homeport, providing sustained repair, supply, weapons handling, and tending operations for submarines. AS(X) is being specifically designed to support deployed VIRGINIA class (VCS), COLUMBIA class (CLB) and future generation submarines in the 21st century. AS(X) is required to support all aspects of Intermediate level maintenance and support to deliver expeditionary tending operations to VCS block V (and later) submarines. The FY2026 budget for AS(X) Submarine Tender was zeroed out as part of the Congressional Mark for Reconciliation Funding Incongruence. FY2027 request for AS(X) Submarine Tender includes $90,092 thousand of discretionary funding and $0 thousand of mandatory funding for a total of $90,092 thousand.

Project 2196 - This project provides the analytical foundation for making informed force structure, capability and affordability decisions in the development of all future surface ship platforms, weapons, sensors and combat systems. It achieves this through total ship system engineering, technology integration, cost estimation, mission effectiveness analysis, force architecture synthesis, and force-level effectiveness analysis, as well as continuous development of the people, tools and processes required to efficiently accomplish these efforts efficiently. This includes early-stage concept development studies for all potential future surface ships. It includes quantitative mission and force-level analysis to identify future capability gaps and requirements related to advances in threat capabilities, and evaluation of the effectiveness and affordability of potential future technology and concept of operations (CONOP) solutions. Results from this project are used to inform senior Navy leadership in support of budgetary decisions, Capability Evolution Plans (CEP), and requirements related to surface ship force structure, platforms and major combat system elements.

This PE is updated to reflect accountability of projects to be included but not described in PB26 due to early JCIDS uncertainties, Crane Ship (T-ACS(X)) and Aviation Maintenance Ship (T-AVB(X)) recapitalizations efforts. Next generation sealift ships, MPS(X) (Formerly MPF(X))/T-ACS(X)/T-AVB(X), will recapitalize the aging specialized capabilities Combatant Commanders need to meet Time Phased Force Deployment requirements. The MPS(X) and T-AVB(X) ships will recapitalize the aging BOBO Class maritime prepositioning ships and WRIGHT Class aviation logistics support ships in consideration of evolved force concepts such as Distributed Maritime Operations and Expeditionary Advanced Basing Operations. T-ACS(X) ships will recapitalize the aging KEYSTONE STATE class and GOPHER STATE class cranes ships to meet Future Afloat Logistics Force requirements. The MPS(X), T-ACS(X), and T-AVB(X) comprise the new construction aspect of the three-phase sealift recapitalization approach in full consideration of force concepts. The FY2026 budget for Future Sealift Programs was zeroed out as part of the Congressional Mark for Reconciliation Funding Incongruence. FY2027 request for Future Sealift Programs includes $28,039 thousand of discretionary funding and $0 thousand of mandatory funding for a total of $28,039 thousand. FY 2027 efforts will leverage the previous Analyses of Alternatives (AoA) on Crane Ships and AoA on Maritime Prepositioning ships to develop in-depth requirement, capability, and specification documents, and conduct an AoA on Marine Aviation Maintenance ships, to continue defining material solutions associated with the nation's sealift and ready reserve force. This definition of prospective material solutions will feed into the creation of Capability Development Documents (CDD), ship specifications, and preliminary designs by industry.

This effort funds two continuing cybersecurity programs; Situational Awareness Boundary Enforcement and Response (SABER) and a maturing Cybersecurity project, High Availability Virtual Environment (HAVEN), and USS SECURE. SABER is the research, design, development, testing, and installation of Cybersecurity solutions for installed integrated computer networks to include shipboard Hull Mechanical and Electrical (HM&E), Navigation Systems, Combat Systems, Fire Control, Sonar, Radar, Communications, and other shipboard computerized control systems for all afloat U.S. Navy platforms. SABER provides network boundary defense and situational awareness to protect and detect against external and internal cybersecurity-threats. HAVEN is a secure operating environment that provides a resilient and redundant infrastructure platform for rapid software deployment and system restoration. HAVEN provides the secure operating environment for SABER and a secure hosting environment. HAVEN has been considered a part of SABER and continued HAVEN development has led the Navy to understand that this capability may have use beyond hosting SABER. USS SECURE is a cybersecurity Test & Evaluation capability for operationally representative distributed system of-systems testing with scalable events from individual systems to enclave, platform, and strike group levels. USS SECURE is applicable to systems across Navy SYSCOMS and DoD Services. This effort also funds NAVSEA Red Team starting in FY 2027, one of thirteen DoD Cyber Red Teams (DCRT) authorized to execute cyber missions on the Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN), the only with authorization to operate on Navy weapons systems. Provides the capability to research, identify, validate, and execute missions to determine nation-state exploitable (Tier IV) cyber vulnerabilities in deployed and next-generation warfighting platforms. Improves cyber readiness of Naval Surface and Sub Surface Forces by developing and demonstrating adversarial emulated TTPs causing Fleet operational mission impact within a cyber-contested environment. This funding transitions Red Team testing from system specific events to on DODIN systems of systems events that support operational mission risk analysis.

This project supports the NAVSEA Technical Authority with the coordination of design and development efforts for cross-platform applicability to result in more affordable, mission-capable, and interoperable surface ship forces including ships that are less expensive to build and operate with reduced manning, reduced support costs, and greater utilization of emerging technology. NAVSEA Tech Authority efforts under Project Unit (PU) 3161, known as the Cross Platform Systems Development (CPSD) Program, develops cross-program technology solutions and associated Technical Authority products. This project provides a coordinated, collaborative approach to the development of cross-platform naval ship and weapon system technical requirements, design, as well as engineering capabilities in the areas of design tools, criteria, and methods. The CPSD project provides innovative solutions for current fleet issues involving Technical Authority, such as interoperability issues with new systems or platforms and/or cross-cutting technology insertion topics. CPSD maintains the use of established functional areas for scope prioritization and portfolio diversification but now aligned to the "Support of Technical Authority." Project Unit 3161 includes the following sub-projects: - Additive Manufacturing (AM): The AM program focuses on development and use of AM equipment for Naval applications in land-based and afloat applications, including system performance requirements, shipboard integration requirements and considerations, material selection, design optimization, equipment and component certification, and digital engineering integration. Efforts include consideration of AM across a wide variety of potential applications ensuring AM manufactured components can meet mission requirements and that system/component technical requirements are updated to leverage AM. In FY 2026, the AM program moves to program element 0604286N, project unit code 0312, Navy Advanced Manufacturing, for better transparency. - Learning to Action Board (L2AB) Firefighting: Following the USS Bonhomme Richard fire, the L2AB Firefighting Program was established to research and develop solutions for damage control and firefighting issues identified in a subsequent Major Fires Review.

The Next Generation Logistics Ship (NGLS), also known as T-AOL, is planned to be a new class of ships to augment the traditional Combat Logistics Force (CLF) to enable refueling, rearming, and resupply of Naval assets afloat and ashore in contested environments via ship-to-ship and ship-to-port operations in support of Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO), Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment (LOCE), and Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO). Augmenting the traditional CLF, NGLS will provide a flexible, responsive platform to move fuel, personnel, equipment, and supplies between ships, advanced bases, ports, and dispersed nodes of the seabase, sustaining afloat (Surface Action Groups) and ashore (Expeditionary Advanced Bases) operations. RDT&E funding awarded in FY 2026 supports industry studies and capability trade analyses to evaluate commercially available ship designs and mature technologies capable of meeting NGLS mission requirements. These efforts assess alternative logistics ship concepts, cargo handling approaches, fuel transfer capability, survivability considerations, and mission system configurations using existing shipbuilding practices and non-developmental equipment where feasible. The results of these studies will inform the Navy's acquisition strategy and potential future procurement approach for the Next Generation Logistics Ship.

Funding provided in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2024 for wave energy converters and marine energy systems for sensors and microgrids for digital cybersecurity engineering, Navy Expeditionary Sustainment and Repair (NESAR), Forward Advanced Manufacturing for Expeditionary Deployment (FAMED), Maintenance Technologies Supporting Operational Readiness (MTOR)