ESRDC Background

The U.S. Navy is investing in technology for an electric naval force to enable increasing affordability and military capability. This transformational war fighting capability represents unprecedented levels of system complexity, through integrated electric power systems technologies that will include electric propulsion, energy storage, and enable integration of future electric weapons and sensors, while ensuring system communality. The unique and challenging requirements of the electric naval force require a dedicated effort in development and assessment of technologies and system engineering, and in manpower.

To achieve the goals of the electric naval force, the Navy is making substantial investments in universities to provide leadership in the technologies and system engineering, as well as the education and training of the employees in both the Navy and industry.

As a result, the Office of Naval Research established the Electric Ship Research and Development Consortium in 2002 to stimulate a multidisciplinary approach to the electric naval force system complexity, and to develop the necessary tools for the complex system design and engineering to reduce the risk and costs of early decisions.