DOD photograph by MSgt. Adrian Cadiz

On his last trip to the West Coast, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work was briefed on the function and capability of the National Ignition Facility as he toured the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., during a visit Aug. 5, 2015.

Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work this week made a short trip to Oregon and Washington State in the Pacific Northwest to meet with industry leaders and to discuss work underway for the department.

April 7, his first stop was be in Portland, Ore., to deliver remarks during a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency christening ceremony for a technology demonstration vessel designed, developed and built through DARPA’s anti-submarine warfare continuous trail unmanned vessel, or ACTUV, program.

The 130-foot ship is a new class of ocean-going vessel able to travel thousands of miles over open seas for months at a time with no crew members aboard.

According to DARPA, ACTUV embodies breakthroughs in autonomous navigation and operation with the potential to revolutionize U.S. maritime operations.

DARPA image

Artist’s concept of a new class of ocean-going vessel designed, developed and built through DARPA’s anti-submarine warfare continuous trail unmanned vessel, or ACTUV, program. The 132-foot ship is able to travel thousands of miles over open seas for months at a time with no crew members aboard. According to DARPA, ACTUV embodies breakthroughs in autonomous navigation and operation with the potential to revolutionize U.S. maritime operations.

In the months after the christening, DARPA says it will work with the Office of Naval Research to fully test the vessel’s capabilities and innovative payloads to transition the technology to the U.S. Navy for operational use.

Joining Work in addressing attendees will be DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar, ACTUV program manager Scott Littlefield, Navy Rear Adm. Mathias Winter, chief of naval research, and Navy Rear Adm. Robert Girrier, director of unmanned warfare systems.

Later that day Work travelled to Seattle, Wash., to meet with the leadership of the Boeing at the aerospace company’s Renton facility. In the afternoon he toured the final assembly facilities of the 737 and the P-8.

The 737 is a short- to medium-range twinjet narrow-body airliner. The P-8A Poseidon aircraft, derived from the next-generation 737-800, is designed for long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Work also will tour the P-8 specific final installation bay and tour the P-8.