Originally a “passion project” of Lincoln combat systems officer Commander Kevin White, the SEA2 systems were installed for the first time aboard the next-generation aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in February 2023, offering seafarers the ability to quickly and easily communicate with their loved ones at home, no matter where they are in the world – a major boost to morale amid the decline of life at sea. The system even allowed hundreds of sailors to enjoy a live broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII through normal television streaming service aboard the warship this past year.
“Being able to connect with friends or family allows our sailors the opportunity to decompress for a few minutes, which in turn allows them to be able to work more efficiently,” Richard Hanninger, Fordthe deployed sustainability educator said following the installation of the SEA2 system aboard the carrier in February 2023. “It’s not just about getting back to friends and family, being able to pay a bill online, take an online class or even just check your game score […] all of this allows our Sailors to access something that lowers their stress level, then return to work after a short break more focused and mission-able.”
But beyond morale-boosting applications, SEA2 also offers big benefits for “tactical and business applications” used by Sailors every day, such as those used to support an air wing or track pay and benefits. As White explained in a May release from the Navy about the initiative, most of these applications operate at higher classification levels and are encrypted, but are still designed to work on the commercial Internet without compromising information security.
“The fact that we’re not taking advantage of this opportunity with advanced technology to allow classified tactical applications to run on the commercial Internet is where we’re missing out, so we’ve built [SEA2] so we can do this in the future,” as White said. “We’re close to demonstrating several of these applications, and I have every confidence that it will be a game changer.” (As of June, the Navy had not authorized the use of classified data with the system.)
