The Department of the Navy has invested billions over the past decade modernizing information technology. Cloud migrations, enterprise contracts, cybersecurity improvements, data integration efforts, and digital transformation initiatives have become hallmarks of modernization. Those investments have laid important groundwork for a more connected, more resilient digital enterprise.

Yet despite that progress, commanders still struggle to obtain timely, authoritative information needed to maintain ships, accelerate shipbuilding, improve logistics, modernize acquisition, and make better operational decisions.

Beginning in the 1960s, the U.S. Navy faced a growing threat from Soviet naval aviation and its developing antiship missile capabilities. Over the following decades, the Soviet Union expanded its ability to launch coordinated attacks against aircraft carriers using long-range bombers and antiship missiles. Aircraft such as the Tu-16 Badger and, later, the Tu-22M Backfire could launch missiles designed to threaten carrier groups.

The Soviet plan was to have bombers approach the fleet, launch their missiles from a distance, and withdraw before U.S. fighters could intercept them. This presented a serious challenge for the U.S. Navy, which needed to defend its carriers against attacks launched from beyond the reach of its existing fighter defenses.