Technological changes are inevitable, often of great benefit, and they must be understood by all maritime leaders. Since the Navy's beginnings, it has created, adapted, rejected, and sometimes grudgingly accepted new technologies. Technological changes in the maritime arena have ranged from the highly disruptive transition from sail to steam propulsion to the adoption of nuclear power for submarines and surface ships. This entry into the Wheel Book series considers the nature of technological innovation in the U.S. Navy, and it discusses the manner in which the Navy is currently adopting new technologies like robotic and autonomous systems, CYBER, and LASERS.

Capt. John E. Jackson, USN (Ret.) is manager of the Chief of Naval Operations Professional Reading Program and a professor of unmanned and robotic systems at the U.S. Naval War College. He holds a master's degree in education from Providence College, and a master's degree in management from Salve Regina University. He is also a graduate of the Management Development Program at Harvard University and is a doctoral candidate at Salve Regina University.

The new Naval Institute Wheel Books provide important information, pragmatic advice, and cogent analysis on topics important to all naval professionals. Drawn from the U.S. Naval Institute's vast archives, the series combines articles from the Institute's flagship publication Proceedings, selections from the oral history collection, and Naval Institute Press books to create unique guides on a wide array of fundamental professional subjects. Technological changes are inevitable, often of great benefit, and they must be understood by all maritime leaders. Since the Navy's beginnings, it has created, adapted, rejected, and sometimes grudgingly accepted new technologies. This entry into the Wheel Book series considers the nature of technological innovation in the U.S. Navy, and it discusses the manner in which the Navy is currently adopting new technologies like robotic and autonomous systems, CYBER, and LASERS.