Strategic & Operational Research Department

This institute studies China’s rapid commercial and maritime development. Research topics include shipbuilding, global commerce, law of the sea, and naval diplomacy.

Over the last decade, it’s become vital for the U.S. Navy and its partners to better understand the strategic and operational factors that shape Russia’s approach to maritime issues.

Challenges lurk in cyberspace, including surveillance programs and wide-scale disruptions to government and corporations. This center advances and promotes research, education, and analysis in the evolving field of digital defense.

This Institute focuses on the long-term needs of the Navy and national security. The center’s innovative, timely research and analysis will help leadership anticipate operational and strategic challenges.

Named for Vice Admiral Samuel L. Gravely Jr., this year-long graduate research program is dedicated to innovative, emerging naval and joint warfare technologies and concepts.

This faculty/student program focuses on the tactical and operational level of war at the classified level. Participants use operations analysis and free-play wargaming to examine high-intensity conventional warfare scenarios.

Students work together in a potential scenario where an opponent is trying to establish and maintain sea control. Analysis of this challenge is conducted at the classified, tactical level, and results are shared with the chief of naval operations.

This program is a collaborative student/faculty research effort that uses military operations research, free-play wargaming, and open-source Russian-language research to conduct detailed studies of high-intensity conventional warfare.

Focus is on the nuclear environment, including discussing deterrence as a strategy and reviewing current debates in this realm. Students participate in a nuclear wargame scenario and complete an independent research paper.