War on Iran gives U.S. Navy real-time view of combat system performance, accelerating software updates, admiral says
NewsApril 21, 2026
NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland. Sustained combat operations during Operation Epic Fury have given the Navy an unprecedented ability to observe shipboard combat system performance in real time and push software improvements to deployed platforms faster than ever before, the program executive officer for integrated warfare systems said at the Sea-Air-Space exposition here.
Rear Adm. Thomas Dickinson, program executive officer for integrated warfare systems (PEO IWS), said the operational tempo of the past three years -- from Red Sea engagements through Epic Fury -- has functioned as a forcing function for compressing the Navy's learning cycles between observing a performance gap and delivering a fix to a ship already on deployment.
"Being able to see how we're performing and where we can make improvements is an absolute gift," Dickinson said. "We've been able to tighten up our learning cycle timeframes to make adjustments, whether those adjustments are software or tactics, techniques, and procedures -- but being postured to not just understand how we're doing, but being postured to act."
Counter-uncrewed aerial system capability was his primary example -- a case where the Navy moved from identifying a gap to experimenting, building fleet confidence, and deploying a new capability to ships already underway, without compromising performance or safety standards.
Dickinson said automated testing and virtualized systems have been key enablers of the faster pipeline, giving his office the data it needs to quickly assess whether a software update is ready to push to a deployed platform.
