January 14, 2021 | International, Naval

For the US Navy, the future of shipbuilding (and warfare) is in the power plant

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy wants to buy a next-generation large surface combatant by the end of the 2030s, but its not being built for a new kind of sensor or weapon system. The newly dubbed DDG(X) is being built for power.

The Navy has, of course, built ships around advancements in engineering systems before: Nuclear power or steam engines, for example, have led to big leaps in naval design. But the large surface combatant is being built around a significant challenge. Weapons systems of the future such as high-powered electronic warfare systems, laser weapons, and high-powered radars and sensors will put an uneven and sometimes even unpredictable load on a ship's power system.

That's pushing the Navy toward an integrated power system, says Rear Adm. Paul Schlise.

“We're going to incorporate an Integrated Power System that has the ability to power up the weapons and sensors of the future,” Schlise said during the Surface Navy Association's virtual annual symposium. “[That's] the key to the realm here. It's DDG-1000-like, in some respects in that it'll have that integrated power system, but the most important thing is including the space, weight, power and cooling — reestablishing those margins to incorporate future systems that are not yet mature.

“There's a lot of promise in some of those systems, but that integrated power system is the key to incorporating those feature systems that we're looking at, that we think are going to be part of that class of ship.”

What is an integrated power system?

Mark Vandroff, a former senior director of the National Security Council and a retired Navy captain who was the program manager for the Navy's new DDG Flight III program, said it's a major break from the kind of system used on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

“A major advantage of a ship with an integrated power system is that the power generated by any of the ship's engines can be used for either propulsion or electricity, rather than having engines solely dedicated to one or another.”

On today's destroyer, and on the Ticonderoga-class cruisers, the ship has separate systems that power the twin propulsion shafts, which turn the ship's propeller and generators that work exclusively to power the ship. An integrated power system, similar to what is on the Zumwalt-class destroyers, uses all the ship's engines to make electricity that turns the propellers and powers the weapons and sensors.

The integrated power system on Zumwalt is a new layout that uses advanced induction motors to produce up to 78 megawatts of electrical power, far more than any previous destroyer or cruiser.

But the issue with the large surface combatant is a little more complicated than just producing a ton of power. What energy weapons or advanced electronics systems do is put a huge tax on the electrical system of a ship, often requiring more power than the ship is able to produce at one time.

So while the integrated power system isn't new, the kinds of demands these new systems will place on the power grid meant to run everything is a new kind of challenge, said Matthew Collette, associate professor of naval architecture and marine engineering at the University of Michigan.

Therefore, the Navy must figure out how to best store energy so it can be available to meet unpredictable demands.

“The issue is, this is different than integrated electric propulsion, which we've had on cruise ships and offshore supply vessels for two decades at this point, and it works really well,” Collette said. “But on those ships, all the electrical loads are pretty well behaved: They rise and fall slowly, and there's no issues with the stability of the electrical system.

“High-powered radars, high-powered electronic warfare, certainly rail guns, the lesser extent lasers — they all ask for power really quickly, faster than a mechanical generator can suddenly produce it. So now you have to think about whether [you] use batteries or flywheels or capacitors or other techniques to get the energy available on the timescale that the load needs.”

It's not an insurmountable problem, and it is one the Navy has used elsewhere. The electromagnetic launch system on the Ford-class, which has had its share of technical problems, operates off a flywheel energy storage system. But the new power system already has Congress nervous, and lawmakers are pressuring the Navy to build a land-based engineering site to test out the power and propulsion system before getting too deep into the design work for the ship.

Collette said that's a sensible approach, and that on the timeline the Navy is discussing, the technology should be sufficiently advanced to support the new class.

“There's been a ton of work done on this, and I think it's certainly something that in the timeframe of a large surface combatant, I would expect would work,” he said.

https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/surface-navy-association/2021/01/13/for-the-us-navy-the-future-of-shipbuilding-and-warfare-is-in-the-power-plant

On the same subject

November 9, 2020 | International, Aerospace

Competitors protest awards to SpaceX and L3Harris for hyperonic weapon tracking satellites
Nathan Strout WASHINGTON - Raytheon and Airbus are protesting two recent awards for eight missile tracking satellites issued to SpaceX and L3Harris, putting into question the Space Development Agency's tight schedule to get its initial constellation on orbit in 2022. The news was first reported by Aviation Week. Under the Oct. 5 award in question, SpaceX and L3Harris were issued contracts to design and develop four satellites equipped with wide field of view (WFOV) overhead persistent infrared (OPIR) sensors. The eight satellites would form tranche 0 of SDA's tracking layer, which the military is building to track hypersonic weapons from space. L3Harris received $193 million, while SpaceX received $149 million. Airbus U.S. Space & Defense first filed its protest of the award Oct. 28, while Raytheon filed its own protest on Nov. 3. A stop work order has been issued for SpaceX and L3Harris. “SDA is working with the GAO to achieve fast, accurate and equitable resolution to the protests received from Airbus and Raytheon on the agency's Tracking Tranche 0 contracts," an SDA spokesperson said in a statement. “SDA is committed to full and open competition whenever practicable and the agency understands protests are a potential and not uncommon part of that process.” The tracking layer is one of several capabilities being built into the agency's planned mega-constellation known as the National Defense Space Architecture. SDA is using a spiral development approach to build out that constellation, by adding more satellites every two years. The first tranche, which would include the eight missile tracking satellites in question, will include about 30 satellites set to launch in 2022. By the end of 2026, the agency wants to have hundreds of satellites in orbit. While Raytheon declined to comment, Airbus U.S. Space & Defense told C4ISRNET in a statement that concerns over the government's evaluation process for the proposals led the company to protest the award. “While determined highly competitive, Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc. was ultimately not selected by SDA for award. Our post-award debrief review identified concerns about the government's evaluation process, and as a result, we have filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO),” an Airbus U.S. spokesperson said in a statement. “Airbus U.S. believes its proposal based on the ARROW commodity satellite bus and the Airbus OneWeb Satellites' operational manufacturing facility in Florida fits SDA's evaluation criteria for commercial commoditized buses manufactured at scale.” At the time of the awards, SDA Director Derek Tournear told C4ISRNET the awards were the result of a full and open competition, with the selection based purely on technical merit. Tournear praised both SpaceX and L3Harris in that interview, emphasizing both companies' plans to meet the agency's aggressive schedule. “SpaceX had a very credible story along that line — a very compelling proposal. It was outstanding,” he said. “They are one of the ones that have been at the forefront of this commercialization and commodification route.” In addition, “L3Harris had an extremely capable solution. They have a lot of experience flying affordable, rapid, small satellite buses for the department,” he said. “They had the plant and the line in place in order to produce these to hit our schedule.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/11/06/competitors-protest-awards-to-spacex-and-l3harris-for-hyperonic-weapon-tracking-satellites/
October 12, 2022 | International, Land

America's arsenal is in need of life support
The key problem is Washington's failure to procure munitions in sufficient quantities in the form of signed contracts with industry.
June 29, 2020 | International, Land

Leonardo DRS wins Army network installation contract
Andrew Eversden The Army program executive office responsible for network modernization awarded Leonardo DRS a $206 million contract to provide vehicle installation kits for network systems, the company announced June 25. The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, awarded by Army PEO Command, Control, Communications-Tactical and Project Manager Mission Command, has a performance period of three years with seven option years. Leonardo DRS will provide “cables, brackets and other associated hardware” to support the installation of the next-generation Mounted Family of Computer Systems II, which includes tablets, processors and ruggedized displays. “These are mission-critical components of the Army's Mission Command capability. We are proud to have been selected for high-volume production and delivery of quality, reliable systems for use in almost every type of tactical platform,” said Bill Guyan, senior vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Land Electronics business unit. In June 2018, Leonardo DRS won an $841 million contract to provide the Army with MFoCS II technology. MFoCS II is the service's combat computing platform. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/06/26/leonardo-drs-wins-army-network-installation-contract/

All news

For the US Navy, the future of shipbuilding (and warfare) is in the power plant

On the same subject

America's arsenal is in need of life support The key problem is Washington's failure to procure munitions in sufficient quantities in the form of signed contracts with industry.

America's arsenal is in need of life support
The key problem is Washington's failure to procure munitions in sufficient quantities in the form of signed contracts with industry.