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Surface Navy 2025: Leonardo DRS evolves to meet changing USN requirements

By Jeremiah Cushman |

An SPQ-9 radar undergoing testing at Leonardo DRS' facility in Largo, Florida. (Leonardo DRS)

Leonardo DRS Naval Electronics is a key supplier to the US Navy (USN) and is working to keep up with changing priorities as the service seeks to expand and modernise its ageing fleet, Cari Ossenfort, senior vice-president and general manager for Leonardo DRS Naval Electronics, told Janes in a 9 January interview ahead of the Surface Navy Association National Symposium 2025 in Arlington, Virginia, from 14 to 16 January.

“We're focused on providing a wide range of radar systems, combat systems, networking, communication, sensors, weapon system electronics … [and] command-and-control (C2) for surface [ships] and submarines, really looking at what the needs are across the board and implementing agile ways to meet that need, because their priorities shift and their priorities are sped up a lot of times,” she said. As a “supplier that's providing a lot of the electronics in the core part of the ships, we really have to be quick in response to what their needs are”.

Artificial intelligence

“Manufacturers at all the levels are incorporating advanced systems and new technologies” to meet these needs, Ossenfort said. “One of the most important modernisation trends that we're seeing right now is in the AI [artificial intelligence] space.” The USN [US Navy] is considering how AI can improve a variety of operations, but this “is going to require more computing power, and more computing power means more heat”, she added.

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