CNA Advanced Technology & Systems Analysis

CNA Advanced Technology & Systems Analysis:  helping decision makers get the best possible returns from their technology and systems investments.

ATSA’s research focuses on analyses of ways to improve future material readiness for the Navy, Marine Corps, and other components of the Department of Defense. Analysts assess alternative technical and systems approaches to address emerging gaps in the capabilities of U.S. forces, and analyze those alternatives to assess their cost, performance, and risks.

To do this, ATSA analysts develop a thorough understanding of sponsors’ objectives and operating environments -- including sea, land, air, space, and cyberspace -- and of the performance characteristics of supporting technologies and systems. Analysts serve as a link between operators in the Fleet and Marine Forces and scientists and engineers in the research and development communities.

For the Department of the Navy, ATSA's work falls into five areas:  Capabilities, Force Structure, and Systems; Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance; Research, Development, and Acquisition; Resources, Planning, and Assessments; and Systems and Tactics.

ATSA's reseach in these areas (much of which is classified) helps senior decision makers set requirements for, and acquire systems to meet, the Navy's war-fighting capabilities and missions. ATSA research sponsors include the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) for Warfare Requirements and Programs (N6/N7); the DCNO for Resources, Requirements and Assessments (N8); the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition; the Commander of the Naval Network Warfare Command; and the Director of Naval Intelligence.  Other research sponsors include the National Reconnaissance Office, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Missile Defense Agency.

ATSA also conducts technology and systems analyses for the Coast Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Central Intelligence Agency, and other non-DoD organizations.

ATSA's work in expeditionary systems focuses on establishing a connection between concepts of operations and requirements for platforms. Often the Navy and Marine Corps come up with systems to pursue before they've tied them to the concept of operations. Our work in this area also focuses on examining alternative systems to assess their relative costs and benefits. The division also looks across various systems (as opposed to single systems) to see what capabilities they provide.

Several important themes characterize current research efforts:

• Examining the right balance between manned and unmanned systems to provide mission capability cost-effectively
• Developing procedures to better link the needs of the user and investments in basic and applied research
• Developing and analyzing metrics to understand the benefits and limits of applying modern "office" information technology hardware and software to support military and other government operations in a field environment, with special attention to the needs of the "mobile" user.

These themes lie at the heart of current Administration efforts to "transform" the way military and domestic security personnel accomplish their missions and to introduce improved efficiencies in the way government services are delivered to the taxpayer.

CNA Advanced Technology and Systems Analysis Teams

• Expeditionary Systems & Support
• Aviation Systems & Technology
• Information Technology & Operations
• Maritime Search & Undersea Warfare