Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) leaders briefed Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert on technologies ranging from the electromagnetic railgun to the laser weapon system during his visit here Sept. 4.
The CNO spoke to Sailors and civilian technologists about the great impact of emerging capabilities on the current and future fleet during an all-hands call held after his tour.
“You are the test and evaluation national treasure that makes the surface fleet more lethal and more survivable,” Greenert told more than 400 military, government, and contractor personnel from Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, NSWCDD, Aegis Training and Readiness Center, Center for Surface Combat Systems, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, Joint Warfare and Analysis Center, and the 614th Air and Space Operations Center.
The national treasure he observed included NSWCDD facilities where real-time spectrum operations and directed energy technologies such as the laser weapon system and electromagnetic railgun are under a continual state of research, development, test and evaluation.
“I am really excited – you are taking concepts and putting it in the fleet for what is, up until now, record time,” said Greenert, pointing out that NSWCDD scientists and engineers are integrating the laser weapon system into the USS Ponce (AFSB-I), an Austin-class amphibious transport dock.
The installation of the laser weapon system on Ponce for at-sea testing in the Persian Gulf fulfills plans the CNO announced at the 2013 Sea-Air-Space Expo. The deployment on Ponce will prove crucial as the Navy continues its push to provide laser weapons to the fleet at large.
NSWCDD, a NAVSEA warfare center division, is a premier research and development center that serves as a specialty site for weapon system integration. The command’s unique ability to rapidly introduce new technology into complex warfighting systems is based on its longstanding competencies in science and technology, research and development, and test and evaluation.