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An osprey in its nest watches over one of the newest weapons to arrive at Dahlgren. The MK45/MOD4 is a 5-inch gun that can fire
The tower for the Cooperative Engagement Capability system is part of Dahlgren's new high-tech mission for the military.
The Aiken Dahlgren Electronic Calculator used in the late 1950s.
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TWO MONTHS before President George W. Bush declared war on Iraq, software engineers at the Naval Surface Warfare Center were asked to evaluate how well computer equipment aboard the Navy ships assembling in the Persian Gulf could work together in a high-tech war zone.
Previously, such a complicated task could be done only when all ships, submarines and aircraft involved gathered for a live test or a real-life military conflict.
But with a specialized lab built at Dahlgren in 1998, NSWC engineers didn't even have to leave their desks to prepare a detailed report on how all five battle groups in the Persian Gulf would be able to work as more than just the sum of their parts.
They used computer modeling to assure total integration of the computers that read sensors, control weapon systems, allow communication and ease decision-making for every component of every battle group.
This sort of technical wizardry has earned the base its reputation as a leader in high-tech military research.
But now, some people are wondering whether the high-tech work will remain after a round of Base Realignments and Closures due in 2005.
That realignment, called BRAC, was authorized by Congress in 2001 as a way for the Department of Defense to save money for modernization. The initial criteria for selecting bases to be targeted during the latest round of BRAC are due at the end of this year.
Until then, it's impossible to predict how Dahlgren might fare in this next BRAC round. But some state leaders are already gathering information on the base's most valuable assets, just in case the Potomac River facility ends up on the list of bases slated for cuts or closure.
"You can't take any definitive action until the process moves a little further along," said former U.S. Rep. Owen Pickett, who co-chairs the Virginia Commission on Base Retention. "Right now, there's nothing to act on, nothing to respond to."
Last month, Gov. Mark Warner appointed Pickett, who once served as a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, and former Undersecretary of the Army Joe Reeder to establish a committee to impress Congress and BRAC officials with the military value of Virginia bases.
U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis formed a similar committee last year to lobby on behalf of the seven military bases, including Dahlgren, in her 1st District.
Base's economic impact 3,173--Number of people directly employed by the base. $228 million--Base payroll last year. 3,000--Number of jobs provided by contractors on base and in off-site support roles. $461.4 million-- Amount base spent on defense contracts last year. |
In theory, BRAC is set up to be impervious to this sort of political influence. A commission appointed by the Department of Defense makes most of the decisions.
Congress and the president do have the final word, but they can't pick and choose which parts of the BRAC recommendations to enact. They must accept or reject the commission's recommendations in their entirety.
Members of various committees say they know their influence over BRAC is limited. But they say the economic impact of the base is too great not to try to wield what influence they can.
Directly or indirectly, the military annually pumps about $1.1 billion into the local economy and provides 28,328 jobs, according to Christine Chmura, a member of Gov. Warner's economic advisory board. She presented a report on the economic impact of the military to the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce last month.
NSWC directly employs about 3,173 people, and last year the base's payroll topped $228 million, base officials say. It also spent $461.4 million on defense contracts.
Dahlgren is also indirectly responsible for the jobs of about 3,000 contractors who work on base and many others who don't have badges to work on base but support those who do.
"Any base closing in this region would have an extremely strong impact on us, economy-wise," said Gene Bailey, president of the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance.
If NSWC or any other area military base closed, he said, the region wouldn't just lose the jobs and money the base provides. It would also lose momentum in the quest to attract, retain and help expand high-tech industry.
But the members of the committees to help preserve Virginia's military bases say they won't impress the BRAC commission with local economic statistics; they must focus on the military value of the base.
There's plenty to talk about there, said Del. Mark Cole, a Spotsylvania County Republican who works on base as a contractor and serves on Davis's BRAC committee.
The base was established in 1918 as a proving ground for naval ordnance, and it still retains that function. Every lot of ammunition for Navy ships is approved at the base's over-water gun range, the only one of its kind in the nation.
Cole said he thinks the range alone could justify keeping the base open.
"There are several critical components out at Dahlgren," he said. "But the gun range would be the hardest, if not impossible, to locate elsewhere."
The early work at the range gave rise to other projects said base commander Capt. Lydal Davidson.
"Back then, our operation used science and engineering to make guns work," he said. "Guns became missiles, which became Navy combat systems, which became weapons systems, which became larger theater systems."
Today, Dahlgren has evolved into a research facility for solving all sorts of complex technological problems for troops on the front lines, and certifying that complicated systems work as they are meant to before they are used in war.
For example, NSWC is responsible for developing, certifying or maintaining many complicated computer programs, such as the ones used in Trident submarines, for Aegis missiles, and in the sensors that ensure safety aboard ships.
The base also helps guide the future of Navy capabilities by:
Helping develop advanced computing to be used in future weapon and combat systems.
Evaluating which concepts for defending against ballistic and cruise missiles will be most effective, most cost-efficient and least risky.
Conducting analysis to help military leaders determine how many combat ships the Navy will need and what capabilities those ships will need.
Separate from the gun range, Dahlgren has made it a priority to cultivate a workforce with the scientific background and technical expertise to develop a vision for the military's future, said King George County Supervisor Joe Grzeika, who works with Cole on Davis' task force.
Grzeika said that could make NSWC vulnerable to cuts because Dahlgren's greatest military contribution may be too esoteric for the BRAC commission to understand, or the commission may think it wise to reconstitute all that technical capability someplace else.
"The total value of Dahlgren is hard to quantify because it spans decades at a time," Grzeika said.
"Most people need a product in front of them, but research and development has products that aren't known for many, many years. You have to take a wide view."
Recent events have already shown the base vulnerable to military cuts.
Earlier this year, part of Dahlgren's contract to maintain the Aegis went to a Lockheed Martin facility in New Jersey. That's where software for the Aegis, one of the Navy's premier weapon systems, is written.
Now that Lockheed Martin is getting ready to deliver the final version of Aegis, Navy officials say they can no longer justify supporting two Aegis computer centers. The one in Dahlgren may close.
The base is also part of a reorganization of the Naval Sea Systems Command, a move completely separate from BRAC. Vice Adm. Phillip M. Balisle, NAVSEA commander, said the reorganization is the best way for the United States to retain its advantage over terrorist organizations.
"When the dust settles, we will look different," he said during an address to all base employees last month. "We may be smaller. I don't know that, but we could be. We will certainly be different."
On the other hand, the base does have have a history of gaining during BRAC.
In 1991, BRAC decisions brought about 480 new employees to Dahlgren--mostly through cuts at its sister base in White Oak, Md. NSWC also acquired the former Coastal Sea Systems Station in Panama City, Fla.
During the 1995 round of BRAC, the White Oak facility closed, and some of its responsibilities were moved to Dahlgren. NSWC also got a new tenant that year: the Joint Warfare Analysis Center, which helps assure that technology developed for one branch of the military is compatible with the technology other branches use.
Many leaders believe the base is as vibrant and relevant to the Navy's needs today as it was during the earlier BRACs.
It is involved in software and engineering work on the newest class of warships, called DD(X). And one of its tenant commands, the Naval Network and Space Operations Command, expects about 200 new employees in the next couple of years.
The new employees will move from Washington, the result of last year's decision to consolidate the former Naval Network Operations Command and the former Naval Space Command at Dahlgren.
Cole said congressional leaders he spoke to were receptive and understanding of the local concerns about the fate of NSWC in the face of BRAC. But, he added, it's hard to say exactly how effective committees such as the ones formed by Davis and Warner will be since they can't directly address the base-closure commission yet.
Cole said he doesn't even know who is on the commission.
"We've done everything I think we need to do up until this point," Cole said. "We're in watch-and-listen mode right now, and we'll continue to stay in touch with people and make sure Dahlgren is on their mind."
Officials at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, say it would be inappropriate for them to speculate on how Base Realignment and Closure Act cuts in 2005 might affect their installation.
But Executive Director Thomas Pendergraft, who holds the top civilian position on base, has plenty to say about his vision for the future of the base.
In general, he said, he expects NSWC will always be a place for Navy and other military officials to go when they need a technical solution to their war-fighting problems.
"Our job is to anticipate the future," Pendergraft said. "We're looking at the technical issues that are preventing us from having a certain capability."
That's what the base was doing in 1947 when it became the first naval lab to use a computer because the Navy needed a more accurate way to measure the trajectory of ordnance tested at the base's gun range.
And that's still what the base is doing today as it helps develop the electromagnetic rail gun--a new weapon that shoots projectiles with a burst of electrical energy rather than gunpowder or other explosives.
The projectile and the part of the gun that holds the projectile were developed at Dahlgren in response to the Marine Corps' need for a weapon with longer ranges and shorter flight times.
A prototype of the gun was successfully tested recently, pav-ing the way for NSWC to design an entire weapons system around the rail gun.
Pendergraft said he also expects the base to emerge as a leader in interoperability--assuring that there are no technical problems that cause troops to rely on inaccurate information or prevent troops from sharing accurate information.
And, he said, he expects some of the homeland defense work that the base has been doing for years will take center stage as the nation defends itself against terrorists.
NSWC took a lead in interoperability and computer connectivity in the late 1990s, when sailors aboard the ships equipped with the newest technology reported trouble sharing information and operating in concert with the rest of the fleet.
The solution was the Distributed Engineering Plant, a headquarters at Dahlgren for the network of labs throughout the country that developed different software aboard different ships. With leadership from the plant, software engineers are able to fiddle with their programs on dry land to assure complete compatibility before sending ships out to sea.
Pendergraft said he expects the plant to take its role a step further in the coming years.
"We need to move that whole fix to the design and development phase," he said. "We need to make sure people pay attention to interoperability as the systems are built."
Toward that effort, the base opened the new Open Architecture test facility earlier this month. It is meant to help change the way the Navy and contractors think about designing computer equipment for weapons systems.
Rather than having a completely independent hardware and software package for each system, the Navy will build a computer system capable of running several different weapons systems, similar to the way Microsoft Windows is capable of running several different civilian computer programs.
"We're going to build a framework so we can make sure things are backward compatible and forward compatible," Pendergraft said.
Those who are designing computer products for the Navy can go to the Open Architecture test facility to certify whether their product is compatible with the new system.
The base also is building an $11.3 million National Innovative Technology and Mission Assurance Center to bring several national-security programs under one roof.
For example, the base has a program to analyze how America's commercial infrastructure aids in military planning. Base employees also have been involved in research on technology to fight the import of illegal drugs, they have developed a revolutionary new program to detect and foil computer hackers, and they have served as the Navy's lead laboratory for all aspects of chemical and biological defense.
NITMAC is designed to create more synergy between all national-defense programs and to facilitate sharing between NSWC and other agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security.
"We've been involved in this stuff for a long time, but it's all been designed to protect the military," Pendergraft said.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he said, "the technical capability developed at Dahlgren took on a whole new meaning."
1918--Congress authorizes President Woodrow Wilson to take over 1,366 acres adjacent to Machodoc Creek in King George County. Seven-inch gun is fired over new range from area known as the Lower Station, an adjunct of the Naval Powder Factory at Indian Head, Md.
1921--Lower Station becomes known as Dahlgren.
1923-1935--First naval laboratories begin to appear at Dahlgren.
1940--Dahlgren base expands rapidly as World War II approaches. Work force rises from 254 in January 1939, to 1,471 by July 1944.
1944--Dahlgren expertise is tapped for ultrasecret Manhattan Project to build atomic bomb at Los Alamos, N.M.
1947--Aiken Relay Calculator (Mark II) arrives. Dahlgren becomes first naval lab to use new computer.
1958--Naval Space Surveillance Center locates at Dahlgren because of lab's computer expertise and in response to Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik I.
1959--Naval Proving Ground Dahlgren is renamed Naval Weapons Laboratory.
1960s--NWL begins work on guided projectiles and rockets; Dahlgren has another growth spurt after Vietnam War begins in 1964.
1974--Naval Ordnance Laboratory and Naval Weapons Laboratory consolidated to form Naval Surface Weapons Center, the Navy's largest research, development, test and evaluation center. Lab develops Trident missile for new submarine.
1976-1980--Rapid expansion and construction under way; NSWC takes on all Navy surface warfare missions. Aegis systems engineering begins.
1978--NSWC chosen to develop Tomahawk cruise missile.
1987--Naval Surface Weapons Center is renamed Naval Surface Warfare Center.
1991--Base Realignment and Closure Act designates that NSWC become a division under an NSWC megacenter. Name changed to Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division. As part of realignment, NSWCDD acquires former Coastal Systems Station at Panama City, Fla.
1993--Second round of base closings orders that NSWC White Oak (Md.) be closed, with personnel and functions moving to Dahlgren, Panama City, NSWC Carderock and NSWC Indian Head.
1999--Work begins on new chemical-biological lab.
June 2003--Phillip M. Balisle, commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command that governs Dahlgren, speaks at base about looming reorganization to meet new threats and counter terrorism. Navy to develop more specialized, flexible force that can deploy on short notice.
July 2003--Dahlgren to test Joint Services Lightweight Standoff Chemical Agent Detector on its Potomac River Test Range.
Source: Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division.
