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Split-second science: Dahlgren Division engineers capture first live data on projectile and shockwave interaction
November 21, 2025 — Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division recently fired high-speed projectiles into timed explosions to study how shockwaves affect high-speed rounds in a groundbreaking test. Over two days, a team of scientists and engineers at Dahlgren Division used a M110 Howitzer modified with a 155 mm barrel to launch projectiles traveling nearly four... MORE

DAHLGREN, Va. – Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division scientists and engineers used a M110 Howitzer modified with a 155 mm barrel to launch projectiles traveling nearly four times the speed of sound toward controlled blasts of 30 to 100 pounds of dynamite. The groundbreaking test was used to study how shockwaves affect high-speed rounds. (NSWCDD Photo)

From subs to the lab: Dan Hogan’s Navy service provides unique perspective at NSWC Dahlgren Division
November 19, 2025 — For Dan Hogan, the journey from the silent, high-tech corridors of nuclear submarines to the labs of Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division was anything but planned. He joined the Navy for practical reasons after earning a physics degree. That turned into a 20-year career aboard some of the most complex and mysterious vessels ever... MORE

DAHLGREN, Va. – Dan Hogan, a scientist at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, stands in front of the first, second and third stage motors of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. As a scientist at NSWCDD, he works on targeting and communications software for submarines, ensuring that these systems meet the needs of the Sailors who rely on them. (Dorina Watermolen/NSWCDD Photo)

Close-in Weapons Systems: The last line of defense
September 24, 2025 — When a threat is seconds from impact, the close-in weapon system provides Navy ships with a final line of protection. Created for automated responses that exceed human reaction times, CIWS is the ultimate safeguard in high-stakes combat.CIWS is a point-defense system designed to detect, track and engage short-range targets such as anti-ship... MORE

ATLANTIC OCEAN – A Phalanx Close-In Weapon System fires from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter James (WMSL 754) during a gun exercise in the South Atlantic Ocean, May 18, 2024. James participated in a gun shoot with Brazilian navy frigates Independência (F 44), the União (F 45), and the U.S. Navy USS Porter (DDG 78) in support of Operation Southern Seas 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Logan Kaczmarek)

NSWC Dahlgren Division advances shipboard self-sufficiency with fiber optic test and repair certification in 7th Fleet
September 15, 2025 — The Navy’s Fiber Optic Test and Repair (FOTR) Certification Program reached a significant milestone by certifying the first certification site and inspector within the 7th Fleet. This achievement marks a critical step toward enhancing shipboard self-reliance in fiber optics maintenance. Managed by the Cybersecurity and Fiber Optics Engineering and... MORE

Standing watch: Inside NSWCDD's Crisis Response Center
September 9, 2025 — When crisis strikes, every second counts. At Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), a command-and-control capability stands ready to respond – the Crisis Response Center (CRC).This isn't just another emergency response system; it's an operational nerve center designed to ensure the continuity of mission-critical support to the... MORE

NSWCDD Command Team and CRC Lead pose for group photo.

Dual duty: Bridging military leadership and engineering excellence at NSWCDD
September 9, 2025 — At 19, Vijay Ahluwalia was adrift. He’d recently returned to New York after more than a decade away in his mother’s native Uganda, where they’d moved after his father died.College was off the table, for the moment. So was a dream to become a travel documentarian. He needed time and space to figure out what he wanted to do with his life.The answer... MORE

Engineer standing in front of flags in a lab

NSWC Dahlgren Division equips future innovators with hands-on tools
August 25, 2025 — To help prepare the region’s next generation of scientists and engineers, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) is providing new hands-on tools for students at the Academy of Technology and Innovation at the University of Mary Washington (ATI-UMW).The donation, delivered to the Stafford County campus by members of Dahlgren... MORE

STAFFORD, Va. – Members of Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division’s (NSWCDD) technology and human resources offices traveled to the Academy of Technology and Innovation at the University of Mary Washington to donate equipment to the high school program’s makerspace. The donation exemplifies NSWCDD’s commitment to support STEM learning in area schools in hopes of inspiring the next generation of innovators. (Dave Ellis/NSWCDD Photo)

Cooperative Engagement Capability: Enhancing battlefield awareness
August 21, 2025 — As modern threats to naval forces evolve, it is critical that our responses do as well. Adversaries are rapidly developing advanced missile systems, stealth technologies and electronic warfare capabilities that challenge traditional defense strategies. Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) provides a technological edge that ensures that in the... MORE

Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) is a live data-sharing system that advances battlespace awareness and weapon coordination across the Navy. Through a combination of hardware and software, CEC is designed to strengthen the anti-air and surface warfare of Navy ships and aircraft by aggregating radar and sensor data to create a full picture of the battlespace across the CEC network.

Forged in war: How Dahlgren’s work shaped victory in 1945
August 18, 2025 — Capt. William “Deak” Parsons lowered himself into the bomb bay of the “Enola Gay” in the early morning hours of Aug. 6, 1945. Minutes before, the B-29 Superfortress had departed from the North Field of Tinian Island. Parsons worked by flashlight, inserting a powder charge and detonator into a weapon unlike anything the world had ever seen.It was a... MORE

DAHLGREN, Va. – Rear Adm. William “Deak” Parsons served at the Naval Proving Grounds in Dahlgren, Virginia and as the leader of the Ordnance Division of the Manhattan Project during World War II.

Learning to lead, learning to fail: SEAP interns grow through hands-on challenge
August 12, 2025 — When Brody Kester landed a selective spot in the 2025 Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP) at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), he thought he’d spend the summer behind a desk. But he soon found himself working side by side with Dahlgren scientists and engineers and gaining hands-on experience in real-world... MORE

DAHLGREN, Va. – Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program interns prepare equipment for testing an unmanned surface vessel at Hideaway Pond during their final project demonstration at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). (Morgan Lee Tabor/NSWCDD Photo)

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