The USCG enjoys a unique relationship with the Department of the Navy. By statute, the USCG is an armed force that trains and operates in the joint military arena at any time, functioning as a specialized service under the Navy in time of war or when directed by the President. The USCG has four major national defense missions: maritime intercept operations, deployed port operations/security and defense, peacetime engagement, and environmental defense operations. These missions are essential military tasks assigned to the USCG as a component of joint and combined forces in peacetime, crisis, and war. To effectively carry out these missions, the USCG’s air and surface units train using realistic scenarios, to include training with the Navy and the other armed services. Like the other services, the USCG seeks to train in a realistic manner so that when the real-world missions arise, personnel are prepared to respond. 

The training utilized in support of defense readiness directly overlaps with many of the other USCG missions that rely on ship and aircraft operations. One mission that protects both the environment and human life and is a defense readiness mission is search and rescue (SAR). The USCG maintains SAR facilities on the East, West and Gulf coasts, and inland waterways. To maintain this perishable skill, the USCG trains its helicopter and fixed-wing crews and SAR personnel in the air and on the water regularly. Other examples of missions that overlap with defense readiness are boarding vessels, civilian port defense, humanitarian assistance, gunnery exercises (warning shots), maritime security operations, maritime security, and small boat attack. USCG personnel may perform these missions when supporting the Navy, but also require the same skills for their law enforcement and other related missions. 

The Navy testing community engages in a broad spectrum of activities in support of the fleet. The individual commands within the testing community include Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The activities conducted by these commands include, but are not limited to, basic and applied scientific research and technology development; the testing, evaluation, and maintenance of systems, such as missiles, torpedoes, radar, and sonar, and platforms such as surface ships, submarines, and aircraft; and the acquisition of systems and platforms to support Navy, USMC, and USCG missions that provide a technological edge over adversaries. 

Some testing activities are difficult to anticipate far in advance because such activities are often conducted in response to emerging science, or fleet needs, in an ever-changing strategic, operational, and tactical environment. For example, a future Navy system built to develop a better understanding of ocean currents may be designed based on research advancements that are not currently published in the scientific literature. Similarly, future but yet unknown operations within a specific geographic area may require modification of Action Proponent assets to address local conditions. New and modified technology, systems, and platforms must be assessed in the field to ensure they operate as intended before delivery to the fleet. Accordingly, descriptions of these activities are generalized in the best manner possible for a long-term, broad-based document such as this Supplemental.  

NAVAIR testing activities include the evaluation of new and in-service aircraft platforms and systems to deliver critical, air warfare capabilities to the fleet. To accomplish its mission, NAVAIR will continue to conduct anti-submarine warfare tests using fixed-wing and rotary wing aircraft platforms, a suite of passive and active acoustic sonobuoys, and dipping sonar systems. NAVAIR’s air warfare activities establish the air worthiness of both manned and unmanned aircraft and validate performance against established metrics. Surface warfare and mine warfare activities use mainly non-explosive practice munitions, including bombs, missiles, and projectiles, but may use explosive munitions depending on the systems being evaluated and the requirements of the test. NAVAIR also conducts electronic warfare activities which assess the effectiveness of aircraft systems to disrupt electronic signals from threat munitions, protect friendly aircraft, and suppress defenses of hostile aircraft by means such as jamming communications signals. 

NAVSEA testing activities are aligned with its mission of new ship construction, life cycle management, and weapon systems development. NAVSEA activities include pierside and at-sea testing of ship systems, including sonar, acoustic countermeasures, radars, launch systems, weapons, unmanned systems, and radio equipment; tests to determine how the ship performs at sea (sea trials); developmental and operational test and evaluation programs for new technologies and systems; and testing on all ships and systems that have undergone overhaul or maintenance. For purposes of this Supplemental, pierside testing at Navy contractor shipyards will consist only of system testing. At-sea test firing of shipboard weapon systems, including guns, torpedoes, and missiles, is also conducted.  

NAVSEA testing ranges are used to conduct some principal testing, analysis, and assessment activities for ship and submarine platforms, including machinery technology for surface combat systems, ordnance, mines, and strategic systems products and support.  

Numerous testing activities and technical evaluations in support of NAVSEA’s system development mission occur outside the boundaries of NAVSEA testing ranges and often occur in conjunction with fleet activities. Tests within this category include surface, anti-submarine, and mine warfare tests that involve the use of torpedoes, sonobuoys, or mine detection and neutralization systems. Unique NAVSEA testing planned for the AFTT Study Area includes ship shock trials, high power radars and lasers, chemical and biological simulants, marine vessel stopping technologies, and new or modified acoustic sources. In addition, an increase in the testing of unmanned systems is expected.  

As the Department of the Navy’s science and technology provider, ONR provides technology solutions for Navy and USMC needs. ONR's mission, defined by law, is to plan, foster, and encourage scientific research in recognition of its paramount importance as related to the maintenance of future naval power, and the preservation of national security. ONR manages the Navy’s basic, applied, and advanced research to foster transition from science and technology to higher levels of research, development, test, and evaluation. ONR is also a parent organization for the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). NRL operates as the Navy’s corporate research laboratory and conducts a broad multidisciplinary program of scientific research and advanced technological development. ONR (and NRL) testing in the AFTT Study Area includes acoustic and oceanographic research, the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (Innovative Naval Prototype), and next generation mine countermeasures.