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Naval Surface and Undersea Warfare Centers

Mr. David Mortimore | February 20, 2021

The Naval Surface and Undersea Warfare Centers are comprised of over 27,000 scientists, engineers, and other experts.

Naval Warfare Centers perform essential basic and applied research, technology transition, test and evaluation, and maintenance and sustainment work for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and other sponsors. With their scientific and engineering expertise, they are key partners in The Sea Land Air Military Research initiative (SLAMR) effort to assist the nationwide science and technology (S&T) community thrive at the intersection of military, commercial, and academic research and development (R&D). Aligned to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR), and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), Warfare Centers play an important role in deploying autonomous, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Command and Control, sensor, and other technologies to the Fleet and Marine Corps

Comprised of ten Divisions, in 2019 the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC)

Employed ~27,300 personnel, of whom 849 had PhDs and 6,164 had Masters’ degrees,
Provided ~30% of the Navy’s scientist and engineer workforce,
Performed over $9.9 billion of work, and
Contracted ~$5.3 billion of work to Private Sector, Academic, and other commercial teams.

NAVSEA Warfare Centers Map — *NSWC and NUWC Advanced Degrees Fiscal Year 2014-2019*

The NAVSEA Warfare Centers are entrusted with technical responsibilities, including Research, Development, Test and Evaluation leadership for Fleet systems, such as the submarine and surface ship examples below.

Submarine Technical Responsibilities — *Example Submarine and Surface Ship Technical Responsibilities*

*Example Submarine and Surface Ship Technical Responsibilities*

Demonstrating a strong understanding of the value of Public Private Partnerships, in 2020 NSWC and NUWC had over

300 Cooperative R&D Agreements, and
200 Educational Partnership Agreements.

NAVSEA Warfare Centers 101 provides fantastic insights for Naval Postgraduate School, Joint Interagency Field Experimentation, and SLAMR stakeholders interested in engaging teams at

NSWC Carderock Division,
NSWC Corona Division,
NSWC Crane Division,
NSWC Dahlgren Division,
NSWC Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division,
NSWC Panama City Division,
NSWC Philadelphia Division,
NSWC Port Hueneme Division,
NUWC Division, Keyport, and
NUWC Division, Newport.

Discover more about the Navy Laboratory and Centers Coordinating Group, Naval R&D Establishment, and Naval Research Enterprise at the Navy R&D Organizations page. Future posts will provide information on NAVAIR, NAVFAC, and NAVWAR Warfare Centers.