DoD Lab Day Celebrates Innovation At All Levels

By: Megan Eckstein USNI News

“Salty Dog 100,” an F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., lands on USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) Apr. 20, 2015. The landing was part of the first sea trials for MAGIC CARPET, new flight control software and display symbology for F/A-18 aircraft designed to make carrier landings less demanding for Navy pilots. US Navy photo.

The Defense Department’s first Lab Day at the Pentagon last week celebrated both the innovative research taking place in the research community as well as military leadership’s new emphasis on pushing innovation across the services, those in attendance said.

For the research community, the last few years haven’t been easy. Budget cuts and sequestration led to travel restrictions that kept scientists and engineers from attending conferences and meeting others in their fields. And research and development budgets have been a tempting source of funding for budgeters struggling to keep acquisition programs fully funded.

But Lawrence Schuette, the Office of Naval Research’s director of research, told USNI News at DoD Lab Day that the event was a chance to get researchers meeting face-to-face again, and that the Navy would begin hosting “innovation jams” in fleet concentration areas to get a variety of warfighting and research communities together to talk about new ideas. Read the Rest >>

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