DAHLGREN, Va. (March 22, 2018) - Indian Navy Chief Adm. Sunil Lanba, center, and his delegation are pictured with Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) leadership in front of the electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher. Lanba led the Indian delegation on an NSWCDD tour that included technical briefings on the U.S. Navy's Aegis Combat System, Directed Energy, and Electromagnetic Railgun Programs. They saw how the command integrates and develops complex warfare systems to incorporate electric weapons technology into existing and future fighting forces and platforms. Navy pilots from Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division also briefed India's top admiral as he flew aboard an MH-60R Seahawk for a demonstration of the helicopter's capabilities. The MH-60R Seahawk missions are anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, surveillance, communications relay, combat search and rescue, naval gunfire support and logistics support.
Lanba's NSWCDD visit came on the heels of his meeting with U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson at the Pentagon. The two heads of Navy met with U.S. Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer on March 21 to discuss ways the two nations could improve interoperability that include additional naval exercises and staff talks. "The relationship between the U.S. Navy and the Indian Navy has never been stronger," said Richardson. "There has been meaningful progress made in strengthening the cooperation between our two great democratic and maritime nations. We are exploring every way to expand that partnership even further based on our shared interests."
Front row, left to right: Indian Commodore A.N. Pramod, Principal Director of Aircraft Acquisition; Chester Petry, NSWCDD Electromagnetic Railgun lead systems engineer; Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy; Dale Sisson, NSWCDD deputy technical director; Indian Commander Charit Kapil, Staff Officer to the Chief of the Naval Staff; Commodore Sandeep Mehta, Indian Defense and Naval Attaché; Ajoy (AJ) Muralidhar, NSWCDD Electromagnetic and Sensor Systems Department chief engineer. Back row, left to right: Jed Ryan, NSWCDD International Partnering Office lead; Juzar Ghadyali, international cooperation specialist, Navy International Programs Office; Lt. Julia Peterson, CNO project officer; Cmdr. Steven Perchalski, NSWCDD director for Electric Weapons; and Chuck Campbell, NSWCDD chief of staff. (U.S. Navy photo by George Smith/Released)