A Navy-engineered cybersecurity system infused with APL innovation, called Situational Awareness, Boundary Enforcement, and Response (SABER), has become a key line of security in protecting Navy ships against cyberattacks.

Scientists at the Lab successfully tested an innovative chemical destruction system known as the Pulse Combustion Engine. Critical to the successful test were the development and application of novel coatings to protect the system while it operates. This breakthrough marks a significant milestone in the development of advanced coatings for extreme environments.

An APL team has developed the capability to build a large language model from the ground up, positioning the Lab to support its government partners in developing custom LLMs and adapting existing ones for mission applications.

APL researchers are investigating the viability and scalability of shelf-stable, freeze-dried red blood cells. With far-reaching implications for trauma care in remote or austere environments — a critical need for the nation’s warfighters — this effort opens the door to safe and effective blood transfusions anywhere, anytime, and with minimal supplies.

SEASONS (Space Environment Applications Systems and Operations for National Security) examines the impacts of space weather on critical U.S. infrastructure and national security assets, while exploring solutions alongside leaders and decision-makers from government, industry, and research institutions.

Christopher Watkins, chief mission engineering and integration officer at the Lab, received the 2026 Vice Admiral Charles E. Weakley Award from NDIA’s Undersea Warfare Division in recognition of his sustained leadership in strengthening collaboration across government and industry to advance undersea warfare capabilities.

Several current and former senior leaders at APL came together to share the Lab’s proven systems approach to driving innovation and strategy in a complex technical organization. Their book, Developing the Innovative Technical Organization: How to Implement a Systems Approach to Strategy, details the Lab’s decade-long journey of strategy development and implementation, from articulating a long-range vision to building a sustainable annual cycle that ensures accountability, alignment, and full enterprise engagement. The authors hope that readers across the for-profit, nonprofit, and government sectors might adapt this systems approach to their own organizations, ensuring that innovation is not the exception but the expectation.

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