When it comes to innovation in military technology, Northrop Grumman truly has a place within the context of the company’s navy-centered research and development centers. These Centers of Excellence, including Dolphin Works™, based in Annapolis, Maryland, and Dragon Works™, based in Sunnyvale, California, will continue extending U.S. Navy undersea capabilities.
Dolphin Works: Reimagining Underwater Sensors
Dolphin Works has a long history of developing the most cutting-edge sonar systems at Northrop Grumman. First of these leading innovations out of the lab is the HSSAS system for the AN/AQS-24 minehunter, which served as its lead-off offering to the Navy. Building on this success was Dolphin Works with another innovation in hand—the first-of-its-kind, platform-agnostic synthetic aperture sonar, µSAS™—pronounced “microSAS.” This innovation set a new benchmark across industry performance.
Dave Smallwood, a Northrop Grumman Fellow in Annapolis, pointed out the iterative development of the lab—”almost as if,” he said, “foundational issues had to be conquered before moving to the next iteration.” The effect has been to create a culture of continuous innovation. “The drive to get to the next level was fueled by a continuous effort to disrupt their technology,” Smallwood said.
The ingenuity of Dolphin Works is underlined by the speed of its AN/AQS-24B/C minehunter and the modular design plus advanced synthetic aperture sonar capabilities of the µSAS system. These systems leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver improved target recognition, greatly reducing the hours required for human analysis and arming operators with better decision-making tools.
Shane Healey, Dolphin Works’ technical director, commented on the creative atmosphere present in the lab and how varied thought and the implementation of creative solutions go in line with the company’s success.
Dragon Works: Submarine Technologies to Lead
On the West Coast, Dragon Works is dedicated to advancing submarine launcher and propulsion technologies. The award of Northrop Grumman’s key contracts for the COLUMBIA-class submarine landed Dragon Works to adopt the small core team approach for handling internal and customer-funded projects. This strategy will be very important in having a holistic view of future investments and site capacity.
Cultural, said Jeff Zerbe, Dragon Works senior director, is about advanced development that brings together both launcher and machinery teams in center success. Dragon Works is working on several projects, including capability improvements for the VIRGINIA-class fast attack submarines and leading the architecture for the next-generation SSN(X) submarines.
The Senior Director of Operations at Dragon Works, Gary Huff, emphasized the need to always be a step ahead. In pursuit of more speed and stealth, the SSN(X) submarine class will incorporate advanced concepts in propulsion, power generation, and launch systems to deliver advanced payload capacity. It is this kind of forward-thinking that drives the Navy and America’s shipbuilders to Dragon Works.
Besides submarine innovations, Dragon Works is also scaling up this launcher technology to surface ships. The CPS system of the Marine Systems’, earlier developed for submarines, is now intended to be deployed on DDG-1000 class destroyers. This underlines the versatility that Northrop Grumman has achieved in military technology.
The Future of SSN(X): A New Era of Undersea Warfare
The U.S. Navy intends to transition from the Virginia-class submarines in the mid-2030s to the next generation with the SSN(X). The SSN(X) is conceptualized to be an “apex predator,” drawing on the speed and payload from the Seawolf class, the acoustic quietness and sensors from the Virginia class, and operational availability from the Columbia class.
It is being designed that the SSN(X) will have higher speed, greater payload capacity, and acoustic superiority to match the near-peer threat. It will also integrate a greater array of off-hull vehicles and sensors with friendly forces to provide sustained combat presence in contested waters.
The CBO estimates the procurement cost of a single SSN(X) to lie between $6.2 billion and $7.2 billion, a testament to its superior capabilities against the displacement of its submarine predecessors.
If Northrop Grumman continues to press on in technological innovation with Dolphin Works and Dragon Works, the U.S. Navy should be well-positioned to retain undersea superiority far into the future.