Coast Guard leaders lay out changes coming with the Force Design 2028 Technology Campaign

The Coast Guard’s plan to lead the way in rapidly adopting the latest technology to improve mission effectiveness might sound ambitious, particularly to service members more used to getting what’s been described as “yesterday’s technology tomorrow,” but now we have both the resources and support to make the major tech overhaul called for in the Force Design 2028 initiative a reality.

That was the message from Acting Commandant, Adm. Kevin Lunday and other leaders at the Force Design 2028 town hall on Tuesday, which focused on the Technology Campaign. “With Force Design 2028, which is [DHS Secretary Kristie Noem’s] direction on transforming the Coast Guard into a more agile, responsive, and capable fighting force, coupled with the historic investment by the American people of $24.395 billion,” Adm. Lunday said, “we will be able to set the service to respond to the demands of the American people.”

Adm. Lunday also reminded attendees that there have been moments in the past when the Coast Guard led the world in using and adopting technology, citing how we pioneered the use of helicopters for operations.

“We know how to do this,” he said. “It’s actually in our DNA if we can get out of our own way and set ourselves up to move at speed and scale.”

Adm. Lunday was joined by Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Coast Guard Sean Plankey, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Phil Waldron, Rear Adm. Russell E. Dash, and BMCM Grant Heffner at the event. It was the fourth town hall to offer more details on how the FD 2028 transformation of the Coast Guard is being implemented.

If you missed it, you can watch the recording here. (CAC required).

During the hour-long discussion, the leaders emphasized that harnessing technology has never been more important to the Coast Guard.

Rear Adm. Dash, the Flag Champion for the Technology Campaign dubbed this a “Darwin moment” for the Coast Guard and all federal agencies where only the most adaptable will survive. “Leadership has given us an opportunity to evolve in the area that is most important to our success next to our people – technology,” he said.

Dash also shared more details on what the service is doing to bring technology up to the level needed to meet today’s demands, including:

Building Coastal Sentinel, a next-generation maritime surveillance, command and control, and communications system. This blended system will provide the sensor network we need, combined with the ability to make sense of the data collected, and the tools for acting on it.
Ensuring everyone has a device and a network connection, particularly out in the field, so that they can do great work. The Coast Guard is updating connections at units, getting Wi-Fi and access to 5G and satellite. Dash reminded members if you haven’t yet taken the Digital Seabag Survey to tell the service what you need, you can do so here.
Improving HR IT to better support our workforce. The goal is to replace Direct Access and other workforce-focused human resources technology, module by module. The service is currently researching and benchmarking best practices through a formal request for information.
Building a modern software system for logistics to streamline maintenance of assets and improve efficiency.
Creating RAPTOR, a rapid response prototype team and huge innovation cell that can quickly identify, adopt, and deliver advanced technology capabilities.
Ramping up the use of artificial intelligence. “It’s the biggest technology change since the internet,” Dash said. “If we are not leading forward, we are falling behind. Our competitors and our adversaries are using AI. This challenges us to go fast.”
Putting data teams to work. “We have an awesome data strategy,” Dash said, noting that Coast Guard data teams are now hard at work applying AI to Coast Guard data.
Getting rid of old stuff. The Coast Guard is now actively disposing of obsolete technology.