Naval Support Facility Dahlgren

Established in 1918 as a naval proving ground, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Laboratory (NSWCDL) is the headquarters for the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division.

As the premiere naval scientific and engineering institution, NSWCDL technology makes a difference in our military's ability to fight, win, and come home safely. NSWCDL can boast that it has ‘‘sighted” and certified every gun barrel on every surface craft ever used by the U.S. Navy. With its 18-mile range along the shores of the Potomac River and Machodoc Creek, the NSWCDL test range looks to the future — its booming guns pushing the envelope of ordnance and weaponry for tomorrow's Navy.

The Fleet of the future is being designed today and NSWCDL scientists and engineers are in the thick of it, lending their knowledge, expertise, and innovations so that our nation can never be outflanked by its adversaries. Even with brand new design concepts, current systems must be taken into account.

National attention is focused on military participation in non-traditional missions. Operations other-than-war, Homeland Defense, Chemical-Biological warfare protection, counter-terrorism, and counter-narcoterrorism are but a few of the examples of missions that are pressing.

NSWC Dahlgren Laboratory is uniquely positioned to help navigate the road to transformation. Its broad spectrum of resources, including workforce, infrastructure, and relationships with industry, have already made it a premier naval scientific and engineering institution that is dedicated to solving a diverse set of complex technical problems confronting the warfighter, whether on land, in the air, on the sea or in space.

NSWCDL spent years building, testing, and stretching a technical infrastructure that is simply not available elsewhere. The Division exists to understand technical dimensions of military problems and to know whether a responsible solution has been provided. This is accomplished by addressing three attributes of navy ownership: unimpeded access to intellectual facilities and resources, connectivity between the warfighter and the technical community, and a continuous source of competence to ensure integrity over the entire life cycle of a system. It cannot be done alone; it requires sustained relationships with the warfighter, sponsors, industry and academia.

“Science Bowl“ and spark students' interest

Middle School students - demonstrating their math and science savvy with rapid fire answers to Jeopardy-style questions at a Maryland science competition - were unfazed as U.S. Navy scientists and engineers judged every word.

The students' confidence, however, was not a surprise to Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) civilian volunteers from Dahlgren as well as Indian Head, Md., and Carderock, Md.

The moderators and judges are also mentors to the sixth, seventh and eighth graders.

Patriots Technology Training Center (PTTC) - a non-profit organization dedicated to helping minority students cross the “digital divide“ to careers in technology-related fields - has partnered with the Navy mentors to generate middle and high school students' interest in math and science via workshops, competitions and field trips.

Volunteers from NSWC Dahlgren, Indian Head and Carderock have mentored students participating in PTTC events since a partnership was established with the non-profit group in 2007.

The Navy scientists, engineers - and middle school students - were energized at the Maryland Regional Science Bowl hosted by PTTC and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). It is a nationwide academic math and science competition featuring fast paced question-and-answer games coupled with a hydrogen fuel cell car competition that challenges students to design, build, and race model cars.

The event was part of an effort to retain students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields through programs that educate and motivate.

The Navy volunteers joined University of Maryland students to act as Science Bowl moderators, scientific judges, rule judges, time and score keepers.

The Science Bowl exemplified how children who are engaged, encouraged, and equipped with proper resources can succeed academically.

The Navy and National Science Bowl's goal is to invest in our next generation of scientists, engineers and educators so America can remain at the forefront of innovation and successfully compete in the 21st century global marketplace. An increase in volunteerism among Warfare Center scientists and engineers is expected to influence children and teens locally and across the country.

The impact is ongoing as Navy volunteers embark on a busy schedule in collaboration with PTTC.

Satellite Intercept

Navy civilian scientists and engineers immediately reinstalled the tactical Aegis Ballistic Missile (BMD) configuration to three ships after removing computer programs they designed for one purpose - to shoot down a failing satellite.

NSWC engineers from Naval Surface Warfare Divisions in Dahlgren, Corona and Port Hueneme ensured the modified computer programs were removed from USS Lake Erie, USS Decatur, and USS Russell. They returned each ship to a tactical configuration to continue their missions protecting the interests of the United States and our allies.

Lake Erie crewmembers used the modified Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) and Aegis weapon system to fire a missile that struck the satellite orbiting 130 miles over the Pacific Ocean. The strike destroyed the satellite's fuel tank, preventing 1,000 pounds of toxic hydrazine from spilling in a populous region.

The Decatur and Russell - also outfitted with the capability to shoot down a satellite traveling more than 17,000 miles per hour - were ready to fire if one or more of the three Aegis-class cruisers could not execute the mission due to mechanical or other unknown conditions.

Immediately after “Mark India“, was declared, announcing the intercept, NSWCDL personnel calculated the exact hit point of the kinetic warhead using data collected from SM-3 telemetry and other sensor assets. This was a critical component in determining mission success.

Before the mission began, a team - including NSWCDL Aegis BMD experts - studied the feasibility of intercepting the failed satellite. The Aegis BMD program office at NSWCDL was then called to build computer program disks and tapes for delivery to the three ships.

NSWCDL installation teams installed and checked out modified computer programs pier side. Government-industry teams working with sailors aboard the three ships evaluated system performance at sea by tracking the dying 5,000 pound satellite as it passed overhead.

Throughout the practice sessions and the actual mission event, NSWCDD personnel stationed at NSWCDL, at the Combat Systems Engineering Development Station, and at the Pacific Missile Range Facility were in constant communication with ship's force, reviewing data and optimizing system performance.

NSWCDL personnel chaired shipboard and pier side configuration control boards, providing critical support needed to ensure that all three ships had the same tools and capability to complete the mission should one or more be unable to support mission execution.

NSWCDL engineers worked side by side with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU⁄APL), Lockheed Martin, Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division (NSWCPHD), Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division, Raytheon, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program Directorate (PD452), Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Combat Systems Engineering Development Station (CSEDS), and others to ensure USS Lake Erie's success.

Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID)

Over a hundred warfighters responding to fictitious terror attacks tested information sharing and communication technology solutions during Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) 2007 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Laboratory.

Uniformed members from all services including the Coast Guard, National Guard and civilian agencies tested solutions designed for warfighters. At NSWCDL, military members interact with vendors and test technologies. The potential delivery of emerging products to joint and coalition forces in theater depends on assessments by the operators.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's annual event enables the Combatant Commanders and international community to investigate command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance solutions that focus on prioritized objectives for enhancing coalition interoperability.

Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines judged the effectiveness of 34 interoperability trials at NSWCDL while fighting two simulated conflicts, responding to a disaster and defending the homeland. One scenario involved a plague that rapidly spread across Mexico causing mass evacuations into the United States as terrorists threatened to detonate a chemical weapon in San Diego.

The warfighters provide an assessment of those technologies to include how well the trials performed, ease of use, compatibility and interoperability among existing systems and other test technologies. The interoperability trials answer one or more of CWIDs published objectives: cross-domain data sharing; integrated intelligence; integrated operations; integrated logistics; integrated planning; and integrated communications.

CWID 2007 examined emerging technologies that demonstrated hardware and software solutions for combatant command theater capability gaps and challenges. Solutions to enhance multi-service, multi-national, and interagency cooperation and communication were also demonstrated.

Collaboration among warfighters and vendors working side-by-side in seven Operation Centers at NSWCDL is also expected to impact future combined operations.

Railgun Program

The Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) successfully conducted a record-setting firing of an electromagnetic railgun at NSWC Dahlgren Laboratory. An invited audience, including the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, witnessed this revolutionary technology in action.

ONR's EMRG Program is part of the Department of the Navy's Science and Technology investments, focused on developing new technologies to support Navy and Marine Corps war fighting needs.

The technology uses high power electromagnetic energy instead of explosive chemical propellants (energetics) to propel a projectile farther and faster than any preceding gun. At full capability, the rail gun will be able to fire a projectile more than 200 nautical miles at a muzzle velocity of mach seven and impacting its target at mach five. In contrast, the current Navy gun, MK 45 five-inch gun, has a range of nearly 20 miles. The high velocity projectile will destroy its targets due to its kinetic energy rather than with conventional explosives.

The safety aspect of the rail gun is one of its greatest potential advantages. Safety on board ship is increased because no explosives are required to fire the projectile and no explosive rounds are stored in the ship's magazine.

Science and technology challenges met by ONR in the development of the railgun include development of the launcher, pulse power generation and the guided projectile design. The program's goal is to demonstrate a full capability, integrated railgun prototype by 2016-2018.

Quantum Mechanics — new era of hyper-capable military devices

A new theory being studied by the NSWC Dahlgren Laboratory Quantum Processing Group (QPG) since 1996 will revolutionize quantum technology and impact the future Navy with hyper-capable devices, according to a principal scientist here.

The development of hyper-capable devices which exploit the extremely weird features of deep quantum reality is enabled by Dr. Yakir Aharonov's new theory.

Aharonov, the Distinguished Professor of Theoretical Physics in the Center for Quantum Studies at George Mason University, theorizes that the future influences the present and predicts an underlying deep quantum reality.

As a result of the deeper reformulation of quantum mechanics, it is expected that many new and exciting technologies will arise that will greatly benefit the Navy both in traditional as well as new and unexpected technologies.

One of the first pioneering experiments that verified Aharonov's new theory of weak quantum mechanical measurements and weak values was conducted at NSWCDL in 1996.

A better understanding of this research area could result in new signal processing techniques and designs that can be used to detect additional components of signals allowing for detection of low signal-to-noise targets in noisy environments. These techniques could be used to boost sensor detection for both radar and sonar in a number of Navy related areas.

For the past few years, NSWCDL's QPG has been working directly with Aharonov - a frequent Nobel nominee - and has validated aspects of his theory which extends standard quantum mechanics to include weak measurements and weak values. Weak measurements are unobtrusive and make it possible to measure something, such as a photon (particle of light), without affecting it.

The main charter of the QPG is to identify or develop militarily useful hyper-capable devices and ensure their transition to fleet operations.

Navy Shipboard Protection System Completes Initial Developmental Testing

The Navy took another step to increase ships' capabilities against asymmetric surface threats, as the Shipboard Protection System (SPS) completed its first test events aboard the USS Benfold.

Civilian engineers from NSWC Dahlgren and NSWC Crane Divisions got underway aboard USS Benfold, working with the ship's force to execute a variety of demanding scenarios to exercise and characterize SPS Block I performance.

The SPS provides a ship's commander with organic tools to rapidly assess emerging surface threats and defend against terrorist attacks like the one that severely damaged the USS Cole in 2000. Ultimately, most U.S. naval surface vessels will have an SPS to provide integrated anti-terrorism⁄force protection capabilities while operating in littoral waters including foreign or domestic ports, restricted waterways and coastal areas, where terrorists can pose a significant threat to naval vessels.

The opportunity for the Warfare Centers to develop and install SPS demonstrates the confidence and trust the NAVSEA and Program Executive Offices have in NAVSEA field activities. It reinforces the warfare centers as leaders in providing the fleet and warfighter with significant technology that increases the superiority of our forces to fight the global war on terrorism.

USS Benfold is the first ship outfitted with SPS (Block 1 version), which integrates AN⁄SPS 73 Surface Search Radar with twin electro-optical⁄infrared cameras to detect and identify threats from high-speed seaborne small craft. The Block III configuration will incorporate the ability to warn and engage short range surface threats.

U.S. Fleet Forces Command identified the threat of small boat terrorist attacks to moored ships and ships entering harbors. During these situations the use of blue water combat systems might endanger non-combatants. The Chief of Naval Operations recognized this need and created the SPS program to improve force protection for Navy surface units.

Pending a fielding decision, the SPS Project Team will begin to install SPS Block I aboard USS Laboon (DDG 58) and USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79). Upon successful completion of operational evaluation, the SPS will be integrated and installed in other fleet ship classes.

The NSWC SPS Team is comprised of ten work groups ranging from systems engineering and human systems integration to integrated logistics support and shipboard installation and integration.

The groups - led by NSWC Dahlgren and NSWC Crane subject matter experts - are responsible for executing work assignments which involve continuous communication, coordination and collaboration in order to develop the technical products within schedule and budget.

Mission and Purpose

The Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Laboratory is the Navy's technical institution that translates warfighter's needs into technical solutions within an operational context for the nation. In basic terms, our purpose is to make a difference in our military's ability to fight, win, and come home safely.

The Division provides research, development, test and evaluation, analysis, systems engineering, integration and certification of complex naval warfare systems related to surface warfare, strategic systems, combat and weapons systems. NSWCDL also provides system integration and certification for weapons, combat systems and warfare systems in addition to executing other responsibilities as assigned by the Commander, Naval Surface Warfare Center.

NSWCDL's strategic direction is to provide the full spectrum of science and engineering capabilities for surface ship weapons systems integration up to and including the force level, missile defense, strategic systems and related areas of Joint and Homeland defense.

NSWCDL'svision is:

To become the Department of the Navy's leading warfare system architect and system engineer, recognized as the technical leader in delivering innovative, affordable, and effective solutions for the Navy, Joint Forces and the Nation.

Capt. Sheila Patterson
Commander
Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division

Stuart Koch
Acting Technical Manager
Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division