By Geoff Fein
Next month, the Navy will stand up a new center of excellence at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, Va., focused on integration and synchronization of air and missile defense efforts, a service official said.
The new Navy Air and Missile Defense Command (NAMDC) will interface with the operational commanders, program sponsors, research organizations, doctrine developers and the other warfare centers of excellence, Cmdr. Dora Lockwood, 3rd Fleet spokeswoman, told Defense Daily yesterday.
NAMDC will be established in phases, with the initial phase beginning in April, she said.
Rear Adm. Brad Hicks, currently the program director, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, will be the interim commander, Lockwood said.
NAMDC will be co-located with the Ballistic Missile facility at Dahlgren, she added.
Once the center is fully stood up, it will have 75 personnel. Initially there will be 25 attached to NAMDC, Lockwood noted.
The new center will report directly to Vice Adm. Sam Locklear, 3rd fleet commander, she added.
On Wednesday evening Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead told attendees at the Chamber Military Affairs Council dinner in Fredericksburg, Va., about the establishment of the new center of excellence.
“It will be the place where the Navy comes to bring together the thinking, the ideas, the concept, the intellectual effort for our (air and) ballistic missile initiatives, efforts and programs so that we can stay in the forefront of this important mission area,” Roughead said.