Master Chief Robotics Warfare Specialist Christopher Rambert becomes the Navy's first Robotics Warfare Specialist, Feb. 27, 2024. Rambert, the Navy’s Robotics Enlisted Community Manager, is the first Sailor to don the RW uniform rating badge. The RW rating was announced in NAVADMIN 036/24, establishing an enlisted career field for the Navy’s operators, maintainers, and managers of robotic and autonomous systems. (Navy photo by MCS 1st Class Jeanette Mullinax) The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
By: FEDweek StaffMaster Chief Petty Officer Christopher Rambert became the Navy’s first sailor to receive the Robotics Warfare (RW) rating. Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Rick Cheeseman and Personnel and Policy Plans Director Rear Adm. Jim Waters pinned the rating onto Rambert during a Feb. 27 ceremony at the Naval Support Facility Arlington, Virginia.
Sailors who will join Rambert in the Navy’s newest career field will be responsible for operation, maintenance and management of the service’s robotic and autonomous systems.
Establishment of the RW rating is the culmination of some three years of work in bolstering the Navy’s robotics community, the service said as it announced Rambert’s pinning.
During a recent conference, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti called for development of “a team who has the reps and sets in sensors, platform autonomy, and mission autonomy programs, and can provide input in machine-learning feedback processes.”
With the establishment of the new rating, the Navy becomes the first of the Defense Department’s armed services branches to establish a specific career field dedicated to unmanned and automated technology.
“It’s a proud moment to see all the hard work that’s gone into developing this badge, and just seeing it finally get codified and brought to life – to me, it signifies the hard work of the people around me,” Rambert said.
The former aviation electrician’s mate believes that robotics technology will see an increased role as a force multiplier, increasing capabilities below and on the surface as well as in the air and on the ground.
“You get the opportunity to go to so many different places. If you look across the spectrum of the entire Navy, you’ve got sailors that have the potential to really touch every single domain out there and that’s very rare,” Rambert said.
Future RWs will be selected mainly from sailors in the active-duty ranks who hold robotics-related Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC) codes. Sailors in pay grades E-4 through E-9 who meet the criteria can apply for the new rating by submitting a NAVPERS 1306/7 Electronic Personnel Action Request to the Bureau of Naval Personnel at either BUPERS-328 or BUPERS-352 (SELRES).
Qualified sailors with such aspirations should be willing and ready to take part in a mission that may be lacking in clear policy and definition, Rambert said.
“They need to be passionate about what they do because what they’re learning now and the lessons learned that we take to the table later can have huge effects on the success of the rating as we progress into the future,” he said.
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