CHINA LAKE, Calif. — More than 300 guests representing 254 small and large businesses from sixteen states attended the first annual NAWCWD Industry Day June 29, 2011, held at the Kerr McGee Center in Ridgecrest, Calif., to learn about the opportunities available through NAWCWD.

NAWCWD Commander Rear Adm. Mat Winter shared NAWCWD’s vision to be the leader in providing innovative, integrated and dominant warfighting effects for our naval, joint and coalition forces. NAWCWD’s mission is to execute full spectrum weapons and warfare systems research, development, acquisition, test and evaluation (RDAT&E). He emphasized that the goal of NAWCWD is to provide our warfighters the decisive advantage.

Winter emphasized, “We need to align our command’s technical skill sets and capabilities with appropriate small and large business partnerships.”

Winter presented the Navy's vision for increasing the use of alternative energy sources on both land and sea. According to Winter, the Secretary of the Navy has outlined plans to increase alternative energy ashore in 2020 by 50 percent and to field the "Great Green Fleet," a fighting force of ships, submarines and planes powered by biofuels. In response to these directives, NAWCWD scientists have been actively developing bio-chemical technology processes that can convert bio-mass products into the next generation of biofuels.

In addition, ultra-performance fuels are being investigated that can outperform typical petroleum derived hydrocarbons. This work supports and complements important NAVAIR initiatives such as the "Green Hornet" program which has resulted in the successful flight demonstration of an F/A-18 powered by a 50/50 blend of biofuel and conventional fuel. According to Dr. Stephen Fallis, NAWCWD chemist and head of the Chemistry and Materials Division, "Biofuels have the potential to be less costly, are more environmentally friendly, and have demonstrated comparable performance to traditional aviation fuels. Research and development on biomass utilization, biofuels, and other alternative energy sources is actively being pursued at NAWCWD."

Mindful of the importance of environmental impact, in regard to the extensive weapons development and testing for which China Lake is noted, Winter shared, “We take great care and effort to be environmentally conscious as we execute our weapons energetic testing at Weapons Division.”

In addition, NAWCWD is home to the largest geothermal plant on any military facility. NAWCWD has 1.1 million acres on China Lake where remote sensing and tracking equipment are currently powered by diesel or batteries. The Navy has plans to convert these facilities to solar and bio-fuel power to reduce its overall carbon footprint.

Stressing the importance of collaboration efforts between DoD, academia, industry and coalition networking, Winter stated, “When we see a process barrier, we will tackle it. A strong partnership between industry and the Navy is the key to our success.”

Industry representatives, who traveled to Ridgecrest from as far away as Colorado and New Jersey, learned about upcoming WD acquisitions of $150,000 and more that are coming up in fiscal years 2011 – 2014.

Winter stressed, “NAWCWD is committed to teaming with local communities and industry partners. There’s opportunity out there and we need your help.”

For more information, copies of the speaker presentations will be posted on the NAWCWD website http://www.navair.navy.mil/nawcwd/nawcwd/industryday/index.html