SSP Highlights the EDO Qualification Process

26 November 2025

From Thomas Jones

WASHINGTON – Armed with a combination of effective leadership skills and technical expertise, Engineering Duty Officers (EDO) are the foundation on which the Navy keeps the fleet moving forward. At Strategic Systems Programs (SSP), the command responsible for the development and sustainment of the Navy’s strategic weapon systems, that technical expertise is a critical asset.

Download

Completing EDO qualification can take up to two years, during which candidates demonstrate hands-on capabilities and an understanding of a wide breadth of knowledge including technical expertise on specific systems and a solid grasp of related acquisition processes. Capt. Kurt Young, SSP’s ship integration branch head and qualified EDO, explained that such a process requires commitment and determination.

“EDOs must balance working on their qualification while simultaneously performing their day job,” Young said. “They need to effectively manage their time to ensure that they complete their qualification card and are adequately prepared for their final board with the Director. In addition to there being a lot of knowledge you have to learn, there’s a huge practical aspect. Seeing, participating in, and doing is key to establishing the baseline for any EDO.”
Young emphasized that while the qualification process can be demanding, it’s intended to ensure the success and readiness of junior EDOs to be technical experts and leaders in their respective sub-systems.
“It’s very important, but it is not meant to be a filter,” Young said. “Each qualifying EDO is assigned a counseling officer by letter that directs the qualifier to frequently meet with their team to discuss and review their progress. You always have help – you have a support system.”

Although other mentor groups across the Navy enterprise send their EDOs on rotation, Young says the process at SSP is more unique.

“When an EDO is accepted into the SSP mentor group, we have made a commitment to them that we will develop a plan that will provide them every possible opportunity to ultimately become a future senior leader within SSP. The expectation in return is that the EDO has committed to remain within the SSP mentor group. The message is that these are mutually beneficial investments,” he said.

“What we do at SSP is very different from other mentor groups, which means the flexibility to leave and come back into the mentor group really isn’t there. While it is possible to come into SSP after qualifying as an EDO from another mentor group, that often means the road will be much more difficult due to the steep learning curve. I personally qualified at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, so I had to apply the techniques I learned differently. I found that I had to depend upon my teammates a lot more because I simply did not possess the same level of technical knowledge.”

Lt. Cmdr. Jorge Garcia, the deputy section head of operations for SSP’s missile branch and a current candidate going through the EDO qualification process, said that SSP’s insularity is a symptom of success.
“SSP is different in that we’re very focused on developing our specific knowledge over many years, whereas other mentor groups might bounce back and forth between completely different systems,” Garcia said. “Most people that qualify within SSP stay with the command. We’re here to become technical experts on solely SSP programs.”

Lt. Joshua Cohen, deputy branch head for SSP’s fire control and guidance branch and deputy section head for the fire control development section, is another candidate that is currently in the midst of the EDO qualification process.

Delving into the mechanics of the process, Cohen says that EDOs are the acquisition professionals of the Navy. “In addition to their technical expertise, EDOs specialize in contracting, budgeting, program management, and more,” Cohen said. “You will have continuous and routine runtime with senior EDOs and technical experts to continually test and improve level of knowledge not only in technical, but in budgetary and contractual aspects as well.”

Candidates have numerous required trainings, practical factors, and other topics to complete during their process, providing for a thorough introduction to SSP. Completion of these topics is the minimum requirement necessary to support the command, however candidates are strongly encouraged to complete additional recommended topics to broaden their knowledge and support further growth.

Garcia says that learning about SSP programs goes beyond a finite curriculum, and involves learning from numerous civilian and uniformed technical experts from SSP, its field activities, and industry partners working on SSP programs.

“There are explicit requirements we have to meet to complete our qualification card, but much of the process is really about traveling everywhere, speaking to everyone, and learning everything,” Garcia said. “We want to have a knowledge base wide enough to be cognizant of everything going on. The goal is to be useful anywhere within SSP, even if we’re able to rely on the civilian experts.”

In September, SSP conducted four scheduled test launches of unarmed Trident II D5LE missiles. Fired from a submerged ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), these launches marked the achievement of 197 total successful missile flight test launches of the Trident II D5 strategic weapon system. These launches demonstrate the credibility and reliability of the nation’s strategic deterrence capabilities, showing that the system is ready to respond if called upon.

Garcia, who briefed the command during these launches, says that the preparation he went through for the brief was an excellent example of why building relationships with SSP and industry technical experts is so crucial.
“I spent a lot of time working with others to learn as much as possible about the subject, what I should be saying if everything goes to plan, and what I should be saying if something doesn’t go according to plan,” Garcia said. “Overall, me stepping in to do the briefing was a relatively small contribution compared to the work others did in preparation for these launches, but getting to learn about the preparations for the launch, what the launch process looks like, and learning how to talk through that process was an incredibly useful experience for me.”

These required and recommended elements take place throughout a candidate’s qualification process, eventually leading up to a candidate’s unique High Consequence Event (HCE) case study paper.
“The HCE case study is a long-term topic proposed by candidates, and must be approved by the Admiral prior to writing. An HCE case study addresses something within the program that carries some risk and identifies ways to mitigate or improve that aspect,” Cohen said.

Young expands on the case study aspect of the process. “It’s not a thesis per se, but it must be well thought out and must offer a way ahead for a current problem with the program,” Young said. “We get good ideas from these papers that we actively implement into our processes, it’s a real product that requires a candidate to dig in, research, interact with people, and travel.”

This paper is presented in a candidate’s final leadership board. Leadership boards are another critical part of the qualification process, designed to put the knowledge that the candidates are learning to the test.

“The boards are a series of trials and tribulations, designed to test a candidate’s knowledge and prepare them for their final board with the Admiral,” Young said. “First, candidates must complete an O-5 board, consisting of commanders who will test a candidate’s knowledge on various topics. Candidates within SSP qualify for a specific subsystem within the Strategic Weapon System (SWS), but they must have a working knowledge of how their subsystem will interact with other subsystems. The board will help the candidate improve their presentation capabilities and learn which knowledge gaps they must fill.”

Following the successful completion of a trial board with three SSP commanders, candidates advance to the next trial board, this time consisting of three SSP captains. In essence a more strenuous test of their knowledge, this board prepares candidates for their EDO qualification board, consisting of the Director of SSP, SSP’s technical director, branch heads from across the command, and possibly the commanding officers of SSP field activities. Candidates must complete an oral examination of all of the knowledge they’ve gained throughout the qualification process during this final board.

“At the candidate’s final board with the Admiral, they also present their HCE paper. Nobody escapes without a few follow-ups to complete,” Young said. “After these are returned, the candidate receives their qualification badge as an EDO.”

Upon qualifying as a fully-fledged EDO, these experts are eligible to hold many of the vital positions within SSP. “With the exception of the Director of SSP, there aren’t many roles that necessarily must be filled by EDOs. However, you’ll often find a branch head or technical director turns out to be one,” Cohen said. “The SSP qualification process is more robust than many other pipelines, so by filling these positions with EDOs you know that you have personnel with the breadth of knowledge required to get that job done as well as possible.”

“An EDO is someone who will understand the impacts of their decisions and who has the pulse of the fleet,” Garcia said.

SSP is the Navy command responsible for sustaining the Navy’s SWS on the Ohio-class SSBN and supporting the integration of the D5LE weapon system on the new Columbia-class SSBNs. Looking to the future, SSP is actively modernizing the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad through development of the D5LE2 SWS and pioneering regional strike capabilities of the future through development of the nuclear-armed sea launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) and the non-nuclear hypersonic conventional prompt strike system (CPS).

Google Translation Disclaimer

Search News

SSP Highlights the EDO Qualification Process

From Thomas Jones