DAHLGREN, Va. - Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) and British military officials pause in front of the Potomac River Test Range metal map during the UK delegation's tour June 10. Dahlgren scientists and engineers briefed the delegation on the command's testing facilities and technologies ranging from the electromagnetic railgun to the hypervelocity projectile.
Briefings on directed energy programs included a high energy laser demonstration. "NSWCDD has a rich history of collaboration with the UK that includes many topics from short term tasks all the way to a missile agreement established in 1963 that we continue to support here today," said Jed Ryan, NSWCDD International Partnering Office lead. "Working together with our allies during the science and technology as well as the RDT&E (research, development, test and evaluation) phases can lead to many benefits such as program improvements, cost and time savings plus enhanced interoperability."
The second sea lord — responsible for the delivery of the British naval service's current and future personnel, equipment and infrastructure — visited NSWCDD with his delegation for briefings on various technological programs, including the electromagnetic railgun — a long-range naval weapon that fires projectiles using electricity instead of traditional gun propellants such as explosive chemicals.
The hypervelocity projectile is a next-generation, guided projectile capable of completing multiple missions for gun systems such as the Navy 5-Inch, 155-mm, and future railguns. Woodcock and his delegation also toured the Potomac River Test Range — 715 acres of land and a 169-square-nautical-mile water area that stretches along the lower 51 miles of the Potomac River.
The British officials looked out over the Potomac and saw firsthand how Dahlgren's gun test facility evolved and expanded to include numerous scientific and response-force missions serving all branches of the United States armed forces.