Photo By Lt. Jennifer Bowman | WASHINGTON (Jan. 24, 2023) Official photo of Mr. James D. Kern, acting assistant for...... read more read more
National Engineers Week is a nationwide celebration of the engineering profession dedicated to inspiring the next generation of innovators. During the 2026 observance taking place February 22-28, SSP is highlighting the engineering workforce supporting the strategic deterrence mission.
In a world that has shifted from a single near-peer adversary to two, staying still is the biggest risk. This is the stark reality that guides James “Jim” Kern, the chief engineer for Strategic Systems Programs and one of the few engineers to serve as a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) in the U.S. government.
As the command's technical authority, Kern is responsible for the processes, rigor, and quality standards that ensure the performance and safety of the nation's sea-based strategic deterrent. He provides senior technical leadership for the Trident II D5 strategic weapon systems (SWS) missile, reentry, and guidance subsystems, overseeing the efforts of more than 2,000 scientists and engineers. In this pivotal role, it is up to him to grow and sustain a team capable of producing the innovations the nation needs, at a speed its adversaries respect.
As chief engineer, Kern ensures that SSP’s workforce, from engineering, to contract managers, to human resources, has the skillset to know when to accept risk to achieve timely results, a push that is being accelerated at all levels of the Department of War and Department of the Navy through the DoW’s Acquisition Transformation Strategy.
"I have to be dynamic," Kern said. "I have to be able to take risks that [previous chief engineers] didn't take because ... my biggest risk [would be only] maintaining the system that we have out there today. I have to be able to insert capabilities in there that counter our adversaries' advances at a pace previously unseen.”
This immense responsibility is the culmination of a career that began on a cattle farm in the Midwest. A native of Bedford, Indiana, Kern developed a love for engineering through helping out on his family’s farm, tinkering with the machines and learning how to repair them. After graduating from Purdue University, he began working in a hands-on role at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, performing acceptance testing for the original Trident I C4 SWS. Looking back on the early days of his more than 30-year career, he admitted that his life-long devotion to the nation’s sea-based strategic deterrent snowballed from there.
“I bought into the program,” Kern said. “I bought into the Navy's mission and I bought into the strategic deterrent mission.”
That commitment was cemented early in his career by a mentor who, seeing Kern's team laboring over a difficult problem, told him, “Jim, our dedication to detail and excellence is the price of freedom.” This lesson and sense of purpose served as Kern’s North Star, guiding him from an entry-level engineer to his current SES role.
While the scope of his responsibility has grown, Kern's philosophy remains grounded.
“I still keep my finger on the pulse of everything that's going on,” he said. “But like any other journey of leadership ... as you go up higher and higher, you're not playing the game anymore. When you first become a supervisor, well now you’re coaching the game. At my level, I’m just keeping score all across the board.”
Today, Kern has a front-row seat to the development of the Trident II D5 Life Extension 2 (D5LE2), the first new sea-based strategic weapons system since 1980. SSP stood up the Trident D5LE2 program in 2019, incorporating lessons learned through the development of the previous Polaris, Poseidon, and Trident missiles.
As Kern guides a new generation through the development process, he hopes young engineers connect to the mission of deterrence as he did, recognizing that the people are the most critical component of the nation's deterrent.
“The best thing about SSP is always going to be the people,” Kern said. “I am blessed to work with a group of people who are completely dedicated to their mission, who are professionally the best of the best ... that combination of amazing people and fascinating work with a major impact to the safety of my and your family every day is what gives me purpose.”
Kern is one of many advocates within the DoN prioritizing the next generation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) leaders. A strong STEM pipeline is crucial for DoN to maintain the nation’s security, ashore, at sea, and in the sky. DoN actively partners with educators, local communities, and the DoN workforce to encourage interest in critical fields like engineering.
SSP is responsible for sustaining strategic weapon system (SWS) on the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines (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 creating 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).
| Date Taken: | 02.24.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 02.24.2026 09:19 |
| Story ID: | 558685 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Hometown: | BEDFORD, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 37 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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