One of the problems the Navy has run into in recent years is
intellectual property rights. Understandably, manufacturers don't want to give
up their proprietary data. Equally understandable, the Navy wants exactly that
data so that they can model system performance as they contemplate system integration
and modifications.
It's an impasse, currently, and has resulted in the Navy abandoning some
promising systems.
The seriousness of the problem is magnified by the Navy’s [unwise] attempts to substitute modeling for actual tests in order to save money. DOT&E has documented this problem multiple times across multiple weapon system programs in their various annual reports.
Consider some of the implications of this issue. What about the manufacturer who was asked to provide proprietary data for the 32 Zumwalts. Hmm … a contract for 32 ships might be worth giving up the data. Unfortunately, the production run was reduced from 32 to 3. Is it still worth it to the manufacturer to potentially give up their hard won institutional knowledge that gives them a competitive advantage for just 3 ships?
The Navy is erratic, to say the least. Those 20 FFG may become 40 or the Navy
may decide to go whole hog on unmanned and cut the FFG at 8. Who knows? The
point is that the manufacturer is being asked to give away their proprietary
information for the hope of a substantial sale that history strongly suggests
is unlikely to occur.
Further, the Navy's ability to protect proprietary data is highly suspect with
network infiltrations happening all the time in addition to whatever unethical
and improper actions the Navy might opt to take that gives away the
manufacturer’s data.
If I were a manufacturer, I'd be very reluctant to give away my hard-earned industrial
advantage for a shaky deal with the US Navy.
Some companies might consider it worthwhile but, apparently, many are
deciding it's not worth it.
Consider the following specific example from a DOT&E report.
In FY15, DOT&E learned that the Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) stopped work on the PRA [ed. Probability of Raid Annihilation] Test Bed for the Freedom variant because a high-fidelity model of the ship’s AN/SPS-75 radar was not being developed. Development of an acceptable radar model requires intellectual property rights that the Navy does not hold … the Navy has also been unable to develop a high-fidelity model of that ship’s AN/SPS-77 radar for the same reason.[1, p.226]
Instead of conducting realistic, live tests, the Navy wants to model and simulate self-defense capabilities for the LCS. That’s a very poor approach. Modeling and simulation are fine but as an adjunct to live fire testing, not as a replacement for it. That aside, in order to construct a valid model the Navy needs all the data on the radars. The radar manufacturers, however, refuse to provide the proprietary data. This leaves the Navy unable to program realistic models and simulations.
It is easy to see, then, that the Navy’s choice of future equipment (of all types) is limited to those for which they can obtain proprietary data. This eliminates many fine pieces of equipment from manufacturers who are unwilling to expose their data.
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[1]Director, Operational Test & Evaluation, “FY 2015 Annual Report”, Jan 2016
