NSWC Crane Hosts 16th Annual AOC EW Capabilities & Gaps Summit

By NSWC Crane Corporate Communications

CRANE, Ind. – NSWC Crane and the Association of Old Crows (AOC) co-hosted the 16th Annual Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) Capabilities & Gaps Summit in Crane, Indiana, on July 28-30. The event brought together more than 300 experts to address the theme “Non-Kinetics for Modern Warfare at the Speed of Relevance.”

Dozens of leaders and experts from industry, academia, government, and military convened to share critical insights across a series of presentations, technical sessions, and panels, highlighted by keynote remarks from Dr. William Luebke, SES, Capability Portfolio Executive for Comms, Sensors, and Timing.

“Advancing EMW [Electromagnetic Warfare] together is the only way we’re going to win,” said Dr. Luebke, SES.

The electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) impacts warfare in every military branch and is integrated across domains. Ensuring EMS superiority is a fundamental component to achieving superiority in the air, land, sea, space, or cyberspace and includes technologies that use electromagnetic waves, such as radio waves, microwaves, or infrared. A wide array of disruptive technologies and concepts that impact the non-kinetic warfare environment, including digital transformation, artificial intelligence, unmanned systems, semiconductor innovation, and collaborative wargaming, were actively discussed during the summit.

One of the keynote speakers, David Tremper, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development, Test & Engineering), mentioned NSWC Crane during his remarks.

“When I saw the (EA-18G) Growler on the news, I immediately thought of NSWC Crane, and all the support you have provided to that system for decades,” said Tremper.

EW Capabilities & Gaps Summit sessions showcased emergent non-kinetic capabilities in an increasingly autonomous warfighting domain, recent doctrine, and integrating emerging technologies in joint warfighting to achieve an enduring electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO) advantage.

“‘The speed of relevance’ isn’t a slogan. It’s the standard our warfighters are held to,” said AOC President Anthony “Tony” Lisuzzo. “The conversations here on AI, autonomy, and non-kinetic capabilities are how we turn ideas into fielded capability quickly enough to matter.”

“The Capabilities & Gaps Summit works because everyone in the room is willing to be candid about what’s working and what isn’t,” Lisuzzo continued. “That openness is how our community closes gaps, and I’m grateful to everyone at NSWC Crane and across AOC who made this year’s event possible.”

This summit is designed to drive collaboration by charting actionable pathways to mature, test, integrate, and support cutting-edge non-kinetic capabilities for a rapidly evolving modern warfare environment across the Joint Force. Organizers drive participants to be part of the solution to ensure electromagnetic spectrum superiority and to close gaps of current capabilities.

“Co-hosting the 16th Annual AOC EW Capabilities and Gaps Summit is a highlight for us at NSWC Crane and reinforces our strong partnership with the Association of Old Crows,” said Gregory Reece, the Electromagnetic Spectrum Warfare Department Director at NSWC Crane. “This year’s theme, ‘Non-Kinetics for Modern Warfare at the Speed of Relevance,’ directly aligns with our mission to deliver innovative solutions to the warfighter. This summit is a crucial catalyst, bringing together the right talent from government, industry, and academia to tackle the most complex challenges in the electromagnetic spectrum and ensure our warfighters are equipped with the technology they need to face any threat. This year we were able to honor one of our own, Mr. Steve Mervyn, who helped establish this event 16 years ago. I really appreciate Pat Flannagan and the local roost presenting Mr. Mervyn with a Roost Lifetime Achievement in recognition of his decades of electronic warfare accomplishments and contributions both as a civilian and an EW Master Chief on active duty.”

NSWC Crane has a storied history of ensuring warfighters are equipped to dominate the spectrum. Andy Martin was the Summit Co-Chair this year. He also spoke on one of the many panels during the multi-day event.

“I’ve hosted this event for four years, but this was the first summit where I had the opportunity to speak on a panel with Ted Jung and Dr. Christianson,” said Martin, Distinguished Engineer for Advanced Electronic Warfare at NSWC Crane. “NSWC Crane has the largest concentration of EMSO experts in the world, and it’s obvious our expertise is integral across many Navy and Joint programs. Our support from NSWC Crane crosses everything from seabed to space providing non-kinetic capability to the Fleet. Every year it’s so awesome to see the strides this community has made in non-kinetic capabilities”

Jerrica Klinger, an EW Strategic Program Manager at NSWC Crane, has helped organize the event for several years.

“It has been an honor to support EW Capabilities & Gaps for the past several years,” said Klinger. “It takes a large number of folks to make this event a success, and we cannot thank everyone enough for committing their time to it this year. This includes the volunteers, supporters, local AOC Crane Roost, AOC headquarters, and staff who make an event of this scale possible.”