Navy Eyes Heightened Cloud Access for Ships’ Tactical Advantage

The Department of the Navy is now looking at ship-mounted cloud computing infrastructure for sailors to remain connected in remote, limited-connectivity environments, an official said at an industry event in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday. The Navy’s acting chief information officer, Jane Rathbun, told the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association NOVA Naval IT Day’s attendees that the service is extending cloud access on deployed vessels “more to the tactical edge.” 

The Indo-Pacific warfighting tactics’ evolution also underscores the need for cloud access tactical advantage, according to Rathbun. She noted that the Marines now require less visibility on the electromagnetic spectrum with their new tactic of taking forward positions on small, isolated islands near potential enemies.  

Again demonstrating the Navy’s cloud capability-building focus, the department recently formed a Neptune Cloud Management Office to support the Navy and Marine Corps’ smooth acquisition of cloud capabilities, DefenseScoop reported.

The office is expected to be pivotal to the department’s access to the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract platform under the Department of Defense’s $9 billion enterprise cloud program. 

Via the JWCC, the U.S. Navy awarded a $723.9 million contract to Amazon Web Services in December 2022 for access to AWS commercial cloud environment.