Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks visited to Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division in King George County, Virginia, and NSWC Indian Head Division in Charles County, Maryland, today to view Navy research, development, testing and evaluation projects, including counter-Uncrewed Systems technologies (c-UXS) and energetics.
At NSWC Dahlgren, the Deputy Secretary viewed multiple c-UXS technologies in development, including directed energy and high-energy lasers. Recent events in the Red Sea, Ukraine and Israel, have accentuated the urgency with which the Department must adopt innovative operational concepts and new capabilities such as directed energy to counter emerging threats.
The work being done at NSWC Dahlgren, alongside Defense Industrial Base partners, will help advance U.S. understanding of how to better protect our warfighters from UXS, decrease costs, and enable the U.S. military to counter adversary directed energy and high-energy laser systems.
The Deputy Secretary also visited the Critical Infrastructure Defense Analytic Center, which she authorized in February 2022. The Critical Infrastructure Defense Analytic Center is part of the U.S. Department of Defense's efforts to enhance the security and resilience of critical infrastructure. This center focuses on developing advanced analytical capabilities to assess and manage risks to critical infrastructure, ensuring the continued operation of essential services in the face of various threats.
During her visit, the Deputy also toured and received briefings on the NSWC Dahlgren Hypersonic Integration and Test Facility, which is home to testing facilities important to Department of Defense hypersonic weapons development. Since 2016, NSWCDD has conducted integrated air and missile defense analyses focused on hypersonic missiles. The analysis has ranged from single ship middle-term studies to force-level far-term analyses that identify capability gaps and possible solutions available through science and technology efforts. Dahlgren's efforts include key roles in the development of offensive and defensive hypersonic missile systems. NSWC Dahlgren brings specialized modeling, simulation, and ground testing capabilities to assess the lethality and effectiveness of weapon systems used in hypersonic engagements.
Also at NSWC Dahlgren, the Deputy Secretary met with civilian employees to discuss challenges and opportunities facing the civilian workforce.
Deputy Secretary Hicks then visited NSWC Indian Head, the Navy's premier public arsenal and center for energetics research, development and manufacturing. As a foundational layer of the nation's munitions industrial base, NSWC Indian Head delivers the full spectrum of energetics solutions from research and development to test and evaluation, through product delivery, fleet support and the final phase of demilitarization and explosive ordnance disposal.
While there, the Deputy Secretary was briefed on how NSWC Indian Head has partnered with private industry to bolster the nation's Defense Industrial Base on programs from solid rocket motor manufacturing to warhead development. Deputy Secretary Hicks also viewed some of the more than 500 projects comprising the Energetics Comprehensive Modernization Plan, a $2.7 billion, 15-year modernization plan to bolster the nation's Energetics Defense Industrial Base and increase wartime readiness and manufacturing.
During her visit, Deputy Secretary Hicks toured NSWC Indian Head's detonation complex and viewed a live demonstration of NSWC Indian Head staff conducting testing on energetic materials. As the nation's premier design and development agent for underwater warheads and explosives, the research conducted by staff at NSWC Indian Head has led to the enhanced lethality of mines, torpedoes and missiles as well as the first novel underwater explosive in 40 years.
Deputy Secretary Hicks concluded her visit by touring NSWC Indian Head's mix/cast/cure complex, which is responsible for a wide range of energetics development and manufacturing, while meeting with the workforce responsible for the production process, and pack-out phases of solid rocket motors, warheads, and mines.
The labs at Dahlgren and Indian Head are part of the larger 10-Division Enterprise known as the Navy Surface and Undersea Warfare Centers.
Throughout her travel to NSWC Dahlgren and NSWC Indian Head, Deputy Secretary Hicks focused on the people, facilities, and partnerships which are helping the Department of Defense develop innovative solutions to modern battlefield threats and bolster supply chains to ensure the U.S. military can support munitions and energetics needs for our warfighters.
