Navy Eyes Next-Gen Tech To Transform Shipyards.

• Author: Easley, Mikayla

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.--As the Navy works to recapitalize its aging shipyards, industry is looking for ways next-generation technologies--from mixed reality to advanced manufacturing--can ferry the sites to the modern age.

The Navy launched a $21 billion modernization initiative in 2018 to upgrade its public shipyards, all constructed more than 100 years ago. The 20-year Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, or SIOP, is renovating the yards in Kittery, Maine, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Portsmouth, Virginia, and Puget Sound, Washington.

The yards were originally designed to build and maintain conventionally powered aircraft carriers and submarines, and any upgrades they've received in the past have been done incrementally, said Rear Adm. John Korka, commander of Naval Facilities and Engineering Systems Command.

SIOP takes a more holistic approach to modernization, he said.

'As we look at the modernization and the recapitalization of our infrastructure at the shipyard, it is more about synchronizing and modernizing our ecosystems of the shipyard," Korka said during a panel discussion at the Navy League's annual Sea-Air-Space conference in National Harbor, Maryland.

As part of that holistic approach, the Navy must embrace a new wave of technology emerging from the commercial sector, referred to as "industry 4.0," said John Polowczyk, federal supply chain leader at Ernst & Young. He emphasized that the service's yards must keep up with technologies and innovation from industry.

"Things like the internet of things, smart factories, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and a wide use of 5G--these new capabilities can deliver great productivity, data driven insights and potentially more optimal maintenance processes for the Navy," Polowczyk said.

One effort the Navy has begun employing at its four public yards is a modeling-and-simulation technology known as digital twins, which digitally replicates an object, place or building. The technology allows the service to map out the industrial processes that take place in the environment, said Ian Boulton, senior director of federal, aerospace and defense/digital transformation at PTC, a software company.

Boulton added that digital twins can allow shipyards to use the internet-of-things technology, mixed reality and spatial computing more widely.

As an example of how the Navy could benefit from the technology, Boulton highlighted PTC's Vuforia Spatial Toolbox. Once a shipyard is digitized, the...