Key Takeaways
- The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has released a new Science and Technology (S&T) strategy that will guide its investments for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
- The strategy is built around the “FEED at Speed” framework—Focus, Explain, Engage, Deploy, and Speed—designed to sharpen priorities, improve communication, and accelerate technology transition.
- ONR identified 11 core S&T focus areas, each broken into 63 subordinate research topics, to concentrate resources on problems uniquely suited to its expertise.
- The approach responds to accelerating technological change, evolving conflict character, intensified strategic competition, and systemic barriers that hinder moving lab innovations to the fleet.
- The upcoming 2026 Navy Summit (August 27) will serve as a forum for government and industry leaders to discuss AI, digital engineering, autonomous systems, network modernization, shipbuilding, and other priorities aligned with the ONR roadmap.
ONR Unveils a New Roadmap for Naval Science and Technology Investment
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has issued its latest Science and Technology (S&T) strategy, positioning the document as a strategic roadmap for how the agency will prioritize, develop, and deliver technology to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Chief of Naval Research Rachel Riley emphasized that the strategy embodies a commitment to discipline, focus, and a renewed sense of urgency. By adhering to its principles, ONR aims to keep the naval services the world’s most formidable force today and for future generations. The roadmap follows a White House Office of Science and Technology Policy report that called for revitalizing the federal research and development enterprise and securing U.S. leadership in critical and emerging technologies.
Factors Shaping ONR’s Mission
ONR acknowledges that making disciplined, defensible S&T choices is complicated by several intersecting forces. The accelerating speed and complexity of technological change continually reshape what is possible and what is needed. Simultaneously, the character of conflict is evolving, demanding new capabilities and concepts of operation. Intensified strategic competition—particularly from peer and near‑peer adversaries—raises the stakes for maintaining technological superiority. Global investment in defense innovation has reached unprecedented levels, creating both opportunities and pressures to keep pace. Finally, systemic barriers to technology transition—such as acquisition processes, funding cycles, and cultural mismatches—often impede moving promising lab prototypes to operational use, forcing ONR to balance short‑term needs with long‑term vision.
Introducing the “FEED at Speed” Framework
To navigate these challenges, ONR organized its strategy around a five‑part approach it calls FEED at Speed. Each letter represents a pillar that together seeks to sharpen focus, improve stakeholder alignment, and accelerate delivery. The framework is intended to ensure that every program in ONR’s portfolio is clearly justified, well‑communicated, actively partnered, rapidly fielded, and continually sped up through innovative tools and organizational changes. By embedding these principles into its culture, ONR hopes to move beyond incremental improvements and deliver transformative capabilities that directly address the Navy’s most pressing warfighting needs.
Focus: Concentrating on “Only ONR” Problems
The first pillar, Focus, directs ONR to concentrate talent and resources on high‑impact naval challenges that only ONR can uniquely address. This means identifying problems where the agency’s basic research expertise, long‑term vision, and freedom from immediate acquisition pressures give it a comparative advantage. Programs that fall outside this niche are earmarked for divestment or transfer to other entities, allowing ONR to avoid dilution of effort and to concentrate on breakthroughs that could redefine naval warfare.
Explain: Articulating Naval Relevance and Transition Paths
Explain requires ONR to clearly communicate the naval relevance of every project and to outline a credible pathway for transitioning technology from the lab to the fleet. This involves translating technical achievements into language that resonates with acquisition officials, operational commanders, industry partners, and congressional stakeholders. By establishing a transparent narrative that links scientific progress to mission capability, ONR aims to build confidence, secure sustained support, and smooth the hand‑off to those responsible for procurement and deployment.
Engage: Strengthening Collaboration Across the Defense Ecosystem
Under Engage, ONR pledges to work more frequently, transparently, and effectively with the broader defense ecosystem. This includes acquisition executives, warfighters, industry leaders, and academic researchers. Regular dialogue, joint planning sessions, and shared data platforms are intended to break down silos, align expectations, and foster co‑development of solutions. Enhanced engagement also helps ONR anticipate operational needs early in the research cycle, reducing the risk of delivering technologies that do not meet fleet requirements.
Deploy: Fielding Technology Rapidly While Measuring Outcomes
The Deploy pillar emphasizes fielding technology at the fastest possible pace in partnership with the acquisition community and the warfighter. Rather than stopping at prototype demonstrations, ONR commits to rigorously measuring outcomes—such as performance, reliability, and cost‑effectiveness—in real‑world or realistic test environments. This outcome‑focused approach ensures that investments deliver tangible warfighting value and that lessons learned feed back into future research directions.
Speed: Leveraging AI and Organizational Change to Accelerate Innovation
Finally, Speed calls for leveraging artificial intelligence and organizational reforms to accelerate invention, innovation, and problem‑solving. AI tools can automate data analysis, simulate complex systems, and identify promising research avenues far faster than traditional methods. Simultaneously, ONR will examine its internal processes—such as proposal review, funding mechanisms, and talent management—to eliminate bottlenecks and foster a culture of agility. The goal is to shorten the timeline from concept to capable system without sacrificing rigor or safety.
Eleven Core S&T Focus Areas Guiding Long‑Term Investment
The strategy identifies eleven overarching S&T focus areas, each supported by 63 subordinate research topics that together guide ONR’s long‑term investment decisions. These areas are:
- AI and autonomy – intelligent decision‑making, unmanned platforms, and machine‑learning applications.
- Command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and naval space (C5ISR space) – integrated networked battle management and resilient communications.
- Directed energy and kinetic systems – lasers, high‑power microwaves, and advanced projectile technologies.
- Human and biological systems – warfighter performance, bio‑defense, and medical countermeasures.
- Manufacturing – additive manufacturing, advanced materials processing, and scalable production techniques.
- Materials and electronics – next‑generation semiconductors, nanostructures, and electronic subsystems.
- Naval aerospace – aircraft, unmanned aerial systems, and related propulsion and avionics.
- Naval engineering – hull forms, propulsion, shipboard systems, and survivability enhancements.
- Ocean, atmosphere and space – maritime environmental sensing, oceanography, and space‑based assets supporting naval operations.
- Power and energy – efficient generation, storage, distribution, and alternative fuels for ships and platforms.
- Undersea systems – submarines, autonomous underwater vehicles, sensor networks, and undersea warfare technologies.
By aligning resources across these domains, ONR intends to create a balanced portfolio that addresses immediate warfighting gaps while seeding the technological foundations for future naval dominance.
The 2026 Navy Summit: A Forum for Strategic Dialogue
Complementing the S&T strategy, the Potomac Officers Club will host the 2026 Navy Summit on August 27. The summit will convene government officials, industry leaders, academic experts, and military practitioners to discuss the very priorities outlined in ONR’s roadmap—artificial intelligence, digital engineering, autonomous systems, network modernization, shipbuilding, and other emerging technologies. Participants will have the opportunity to explore how the FEED at Speed framework can be operationalized across acquisition programs, share lessons learned from recent prototyping efforts, and identify collaborative pathways that accelerate capability delivery. The event underscores the importance of sustained dialogue between the research community and the end‑users who will ultimately employ these technologies in contested maritime environments.
Conclusion: A Disciplined, Focused Path Forward
ONR’s new S&T strategy represents a deliberate effort to impose discipline, sharpen focus, and inject urgency into the naval research enterprise. By adopting the FEED at Speed framework—centering on Only ONR problems, clear explanations, robust engagement, rapid deployment, and accelerated innovation—the agency aims to overcome the systemic barriers that have historically slowed technology transition. The eleven focus areas and their subordinate research topics provide a concrete map for where investments will flow, ensuring that talent and dollars are directed toward high‑impact, uniquely naval challenges. As the 2026 Navy Summit approaches, stakeholders will have a timely venue to align expectations, refine implementation plans, and collectively advance the goal of keeping the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps the world’s preeminent naval force for today and the generations to come.