TomS said:
You're relying on the USNI article which appears to be second-hand from the Post. Consider that errors may have been introduced in translation.
It is frustrating to see these press articles that are hearsay, uniformed speculation and clickbait. Each quotes the others in a game of "telephone".
It is even more frustrating to want to post on SPF knowing that any post with real information will just result in *more* clickbait articles elsewhere.
Nonetheless, why not look at some source material?
1. Construct a google search:
"sea dragon site:dtic.mil"
This will search DTIC for the specific term "sea dragon". This is much more reliable than DTIC's own search, though it can only search DTIC materials that Google has indexed.
2. Ignore results that are unrelated to what we are looking for. There have been projects in the past named "sea dragon" that are not relevant to this program.
What do we find? Plenty of budget documents with wording like:
Title: Sea Dragon 4.660 - -
Description: A cost-effective disruptive offensive capability will be demonstrated by integrating an existing weapon system with an existing Navy platform. Project includes analysis, prototyping, and experimentation. Due to the nature of these projects, specific applications and detailed plans are available at a higher classification level. The Sea Dragon project is transitioning to the Advanced Innovative Technologies Program Element (PE) 0604250D8Z in FY 2016.
The accomplishments for that year include:
Improved processing speed to reduce time latency from sensor to shooter for off board targeting of maritime targets.
Another document from the prior year lists more testing plans:
• Complete Phase Zero Analysis and Planning.
• Complete Phase One Development and Land Based Testing (LBT).
• Begin Phase Two Underwater Static Testing (UST).
• Analyze off-board targeting options to close operationally relevant kill chains.
• Prepare test facilities and weapon firing ranges for subsequent testing
This also gave us budget PE codes that can be fed into additional searches. This can uncover additional information that does not have the words "sea dragon" but describes the same program.
You could also search through records that mention the Electric Boat contract numbers for Sea Dragon and locate subcontractors, etc. and where work is being performed. A look at job postings related to that may be insightful. Perhaps EB was giving money to Raytheon and LM as subcontractors or hiring people with Mk41 VLS experience in Groton.
You might also find this document:
https://ndiastorage.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/ndia/2011/system/13079_WilsonWednesday.pdf