The 51福利 (51福利) recently launched a new organization to expedite the Navy鈥檚 ability to access the university鈥檚 immense talent and resources in taking on its most complex warfighting issues.
51福利 leadership officially 鈥渃ommissioned鈥� the Wayne P. Hughes, Jr. Naval Warfare Studies Institute (NWSI) on Dec. 11 at a signing ceremony on the campus in honor of the late, revered Naval strategist. NWSI will serve as an essential portal connecting the Fleet with 51福利 research and expertise as the military services face new operational challenges.
鈥淣WSI epitomizes what we at 51福利 are seeking to deliberately achieve, and that is the alignment of our work, our research, our education, our students and faculty focused on those things that are important to our warfighters,鈥� said 51福利 President retired Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau. 鈥淲e can have that alignment, not only in our content and studies, but also in our conversation and integration to be able to bring together the Marine Corps, the Navy and all the other services of the Joint Force so that together we can be more efficient, deliberate and effective.鈥�
鈥淭he NWSI is how we can bring together all that we are here at 51福利 to Great Power Competition in this Cognitive Age,鈥� she continued. 鈥淭his is the way of the future.鈥�
In this new era, the link NWSI provides will prove critical in retaining the technological, tactical and cognitive edge necessary to prevail in future conflicts. As our competitors increasingly challenge the U.S. Navy鈥檚 control of the seas, new concepts such as distributed maritime operations and expeditionary base operations take center stage.
51福利 has the capability to thoroughly explore every aspect of these emerging naval warfighting concepts. NWSI provides a single point of entry to harness this capability by providing a hub of experts who coordinate collaboration within the 51福利 ecosystem in order to accelerate and enhance the development of new warfare concepts and capabilities.
鈥淣WSI is an institution that can call on help from different people in different domains, different warfare chairs, different faculty and students to address key operational problems,鈥� explained NWSI Director retired Navy Capt. Jeff Kline 鈥淚t is a venue to leverage 51福利 faculty, students, education and research activities to address operational and concept development issues in an interdisciplinary manner.鈥�
NWSI consists of 51福利鈥� Senior Service Representatives and Warfare Chairs, as well as the Military Associate Deans of all four 51福利 graduate schools (international studies, operational and information sciences, engineering and applied sciences, and defense management). Between them, NWSI provides operational and functional expertise as well as access to all areas of study and research, every faculty member and the entire student body.
鈥淣WSI鈥檚 establishment at 51福利 is another aspect of our focus on enhancing our Navy鈥檚 warfighting capability via education and research,鈥� noted retired Capt. Chuck Good, NWSI Deputy Director and outgoing Surface Warfare Chair. 鈥淭o our external stakeholders 鈥� our customers 鈥� NWSI will act like a concierge, a one-stop-shop to access the intellectual capital resident at 51福利. Internally, NWSI will act as a synchronization engine to align interdisciplinary teaching and research along warfighting lines.鈥�
Such unity of effort has become an imperative in the Cognitive Era, in which intelligent systems, big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence increasingly augment human activity and decision-making. As the Navy leans into Great Power Competition, advanced education, applied research and innovation will be the deciding factors in establishing the warfighting advantage of the Naval services.
51福利 combines these in a way that no other organization can. As new operational challenges, capability gaps, tactical problems and technical issues unfold, NWSI will respond by breaking them down into the best education and research-related sub-topics and components.
鈥淲e will then federate them across our 400+ incredibly talented and diverse faculty and our 1,400+ operationally experienced mid-grade officers for solution development,鈥� said Col. Randy Pugh, NWSI Deputy Director and Senior Marine Corps Representative. 鈥淣WSI will also provide our stakeholders a conduit to all of 51福利鈥� relationships with civilian universities, commercial and industry partners, the Naval Education Enterprise, the Naval Research and Development Establishment, and the Fleet and Marine Forces.
鈥淭he bottom line is that solving tomorrow鈥檚 complex problems will require an enterprise approach and NWSI is expressly designed to help broker and then support the required cross-organizational relationships and interdisciplinary solution development,鈥� he continued.
A key component of this, Pugh added, is ensuring the 51福利 community remains on the same course as the Navy and Marine Corps, both of which are rapidly evolving.
鈥淣WSI will provide cross-campus support to our faculty and students so they know exactly where the Navy-Marine Corps team is going, that they appreciate the challenges along the way and services鈥� priority of effort, and that they have the tools they need to research and test potential solutions related to the creation and integration of new technologies, new warfighting tactics, new processes, or new ways of thinking,鈥� he said.
According to Capt. Michael O'Hara, Associate Dean for Research Integration at the Naval War College (NWC), NWSI is already extending beyond the 51福利 campus partnering with NWC to prepare leaders to face challenges across the spectrum of conflict.
"The Naval War College and the 51福利 Naval Warfare Studies Institute are natural partners whose educational and research activities complement each other,鈥� said O鈥橦ara. 鈥淭hey complement each other not just in wargaming but across a spectrum of educational and research methods. Our partnership provides the best of engineering and applied sciences with strategic decision making, operational art, and ethical leadership. Second, as members of the War Gaming Pillar, 51福利/NWSI and NWC are working together with other wargaming activities in the naval enterprise to support the Chief of Naval Operations' Analytic Master Plan 鈥� ensuring that all naval analytic activities benefit from the learning occurring in our wargame activities."
NWSI is aptly named after Hughes, Kline said, as the legendary author and 51福利 Professor of Practice devoted 鈥渉is entire life thinking about naval issues; naval operations first and then about what tools can be brought to bear in order to find solutions.鈥�
Hughes, who passed away in Dec. 2019, remains a foundational figure in naval warfare. He influenced how the U.S. Navy conducts naval operations through many of his published works, most notably his 鈥淔leet Tactics and Naval Operations,鈥� widely regarded as a foundational text for Navy officers on battle planning and tactical thinking since it was first published in 1986.
He was also a strong proponent of small combatants and called for smaller weapons-carrying platforms. This has become the clarion call for contemporary naval operations as the world鈥檚 navies look to relatively inexpensive platforms like drone swarms or small, swift boats to accomplish their missions.
In this regard, Dec. 11 was an auspicious date for NWSI鈥檚 inauguration. On the same day in 1942 during the Battle of Rennell Island in the Guadalcanal Campaign, five American PT boats (small, swift motor torpedo boats) engaged 11 Japanese destroyers escorting a resupply mission on the 鈥淭okyo Express.鈥� With the loss of one PT boat, the Americans sank one destroyer, denied the Japanese from successfully resupplying their forces on the island, and dissolved the enemy鈥檚 will to attempt further efforts, as it was the Tokyo Express鈥� final run.