Navy leadership told its shipbuilding industry Monday that it's all about "plug-and-play," open-architecture capabilities going forward for the sea service.

Modern and future combat needs involve an essential degree of agility and flexibility, Marine Corp Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, the Corps' deputy aviation commandant, said Monday at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space 2016 Exposition.

"You can't discover you're not interoperable on game day," Davis said during a roundtable panel on integration. "Make sure it plugs and plays."

"We're paying a lot of money for the platform," Lt. Gen. Robert Walsh, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, noted.

Vice Adm. Robert Thomas, Director, Navy Staff, said the service needs more open architecture in its amphibious and Military Sealift Command vessels.

Military Sealift Command head Rear Adm. Thomas Shannon said the command wants to be included in discussion on adding sensors and platforms to defend the mostly civilian crews.

He also touched on reinforcing hospital ship decks to accommodate the MV-22 Osprey.

"We need to put the M back in MSC," Shannon said.