Navy experimenting with rapidly compiling, uploading software to fleet

The Navy is experimenting with compiling, certifying and uploading software to warfighters in under 24 hours, according to a senior official.

Navy acquisition executive Hondo Geurts said today during a Washington conference the service is conducting a series of tests for a challenge it is calling "24 hours from compile to combat."

"Our real goals in that arena are to . . . rapidly leverage algorithmic developments, machine learning, artificial intelligence and then get those out into combat as quickly as possible," Geurts told reporters on the sidelines of that same conference.

The experiments have focused on the technical components necessary -- integration and cybersecurity -- as well as the "procedural elements to make that happen," he said.

"What would it take to, [in] 24 hours, compile your software, get it all the way through a digital twin, get it fully cyber certified, get it broadcast over the air to a ship at sea, uploaded in a combat system and operating," Geurts said.