Office of Naval Research

THE OFFICE OF Naval Research (ONR) is based in Arlington, Virginia, and supports research conducted by the Navy and the Marine Corps. It was established in 1946, and serves as the technical adviser to the chief of naval operations and to the secretary of the Navy. Communication to the secretary of the Navy is via the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, and acquisition. The ONR mission is to “foster, plan, facilitate and transition scientific research in recognition of its paramount importance to enable future naval power and the preservation of national security.”

The ONR has funded numerous scientists who have eventually won the Nobel Prize for their research. The first example is Felix Bloch, awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1952. He worked on magnetic measurement [Page 748]in atomic nuclei; for naval interest his work was in the field of naval medicine and nondestructive inspection. Two years later, Linus Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry for his research on the nature of the chemical bond. His work was of naval interest for its contributions to the foundations of chemical engineering. In 2005, John L. Hall and Theodor W. Hansch shared the Nobel Prize for physics for their work in laser-based precision spectroscopy There was naval interest in this work because of its applications for precision timekeeping, as well as precision measurements.

Robofly is the Navy's stealth robotic flyer the size of an actual fly, capable of searching for chemical and biological warfare agents.

There are four branches within the ONR: the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), ONR Global (ONRG), Science and Technology (S&T), and the Naval Reserve S&T Program. There are seven main departments of research in the ONR S&T Division: Command, Control Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance; Expeditionary Warfare and Combating Terrorism; Naval Air Warfare and Weapons; Ocean Battlespace Sensing; the Office of Transition; Sea Warfare and Weapons; and the Warfighter Performance Department. Within each department are sub-departments, or divisions. For example, within the Ocean Battlespace Sensing Department are the Ocean Sensing and Systems Applications Division and the Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space Research Division.

The ONR is led by a chief of naval research, a vice chief of naval research, an executive director, an assistant chief of naval research, a director of research, a director of transition, and a director of innovation. Additionally, an ONR inspector general acts to ensure efficient and ethical proceedings at the ONR, to oversee the ONR operations and programs and to “prevent and detect fraud, abuse, mismanagement, and waste.”