Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Mike Gilday visited Sailors and civilians during a day-trip to Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, Virginia, Nov. 17.
WASHINGTON (NNS) - Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Mike Gilday visited Sailors and civilians during a day-trip to Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, Virginia, Nov. 17.
During the visit, CNO received briefs on a variety programs like High Energy Lasers, Solid Laser Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) and Layered Laser Defense (LLD), and the Optical Dazzler Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren.
“As we develop the Fleet of the future, it’s important that we invest in weapons that are more precise, have longer range, and give us the ability to make our ships more survivable,” said Gilday. “The development and fielding of new technology like directed energy and high-velocity projectiles are not science fiction – they’re happening today – and the workforce here in Dahlgren is making that happen.”
CNO also spoke with Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS) leadership, met with AEGIS Training and Readiness Center (ATRC) students, toured the Reconfigurable Combat Information Center Trainer and observed the Virtual Maintenance Trainer demonstration at ATRC.
Earlier this year, the Navy installed the first Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy (ODIN) on the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Dewey.
The system came out of Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division in Virginia as part of Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems, and it promises to radically change the way the Navy responds to a variety of threats at sea.
NSWC Dahlgren is the same group that worked on the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), which had a similar purpose: blasting unmanned aircraft out of the sky with a concentrated beam. Perhaps “dazzling” is a more accurate way to describe what LaWS does to airborne drones.
LaWS was a 30-kilowatt laser that was installed on the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce in 2014. It underwent a few years of testing and experiments but ultimately never was slated for operational use. LaWS did provide a lot of the lessons learned for the latest generation of ODIN.
ODIN took just two and a half years for the Navy to move the system from an approved idea through design, construction and testing to actual installation aboard the Dewey — a notable achievement in defense program development.
An Infant System More Advanced Than Its Predecessors
The ODIN program is still in its infancy, but the Navy hopes to roll it out with other ships in the fleet over the next couple of years. The sea service is concerned with the growing prevalence of enemy unmanned aircraft and seeks ways to counter this threat.
The Navy hopes to learn lessons from the installation of ODIN on the Dewey, which will inform commanders about how the system could be implemented on other ships in the future. ODIN, like LaWS, could lead to the development of other laser weapon systems.
The Navy requested $299 million for shipboard laser systems in its fiscal 2019 budget.
Bradley Martin, a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corp., said ODIN is not going to be used like laser weapons you would see in science fiction movies, but rather as something that would scramble a unmanned aerial vehicle’s optical sensor. UAVs right now aren’t a threat to attack a ship, so destroying them quickly isn’t necessary.
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