CRANE, Ind. –
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) held an official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Joint Hypersonics Transition Office (JHTO) Systems Engineering Field Activity (SEFA) on base Thursday, July 8.
The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) established JHTO SEFA at NSWC Crane in order to leverage the growing capabilities in hypersonics technologies of government, industry, and academic partners, including Indiana’s three Tier 1 research universities. The JHTO Director, Dr. Gillian Bussey, along with then Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Dr. Mark Lewis, announced the JHTO SEFA opening at NSWC Crane in the Fall of 2020. Dr. Bussey attended the ribbon cutting ceremony and toured NSWC Crane’s hypersonic capabilities.
Dr. Angela Lewis, the Technical Director at NSWC Crane, says Crane is uniquely equipped to provide value to this high-tech capability for the Department of Defense (DoD).
“It is fantastic to have the opportunity to leverage the existing capabilities, facilities, and infrastructure at Crane to accelerate technologies into the Hypersonics enterprise,” said Dr. Lewis. “Crane’s culture has had a long history of transitioning technology to the Warfighter, and we are applying that experience to a different set of challenges related to this critical area and to meet emerging national needs in hypersonics.”
Dr. Bussey says she looks forward to the strategic partnership with NSWC Crane.
“With the JHTO Systems Engineering Field Activity, I am thrilled to be able to tap into the engineering expertise and culture of transition that I saw during my visit to help the nation ensure that the excellent JHTO-funded S&T has a strong pathway into DoD programs and out to the warfighter,” says Dr. Bussey.
Dr. Sarah Armstrong, the Director of the JHTO SEFA at NSWC Crane, says this is a collaborative effort to meet national security needs.
“We have support across the services to ensure success,” says Dr. Armstrong. “Through leveraging organic capabilities and focusing on technical rigor to facilitate transition, we’ll meet the future needs of the hypersonics enterprise.”
The JHTO, headquartered at the Pentagon, is responsible for creating strategies and roadmaps to develop hypersonic technologies and transition them to operational capabilities, for coordinating with foreign allies and partners, and for bolstering the hypersonics workforce. Additionally, JHTO has established a university consortium for applied hypersonics to leverage the nation’s academic community towards hypersonics-related research and workforce development.
The JHTO SEFA at Crane will perform the detailed engineering activities to help execute the JHTO’s mandate. The Field Activity will coordinate architectures, interfaces, schedules, and plans to transition a modular, affordable, and upgradable hypersonics portfolio of capabilities and technologies. The Systems Engineering Field Activity has three primary focus areas: Systems Engineering, Program Integration, and Workforce Development. Workforce development initiatives include sponsored research, curriculum development, and engagements with industry to create a growing pipeline of highly technical talent to enter the hypersonics workforce.
About NSWC Crane
NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with mission areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. The warfare center is responsible for multi-domain, multi- spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today's Warfighter.