Should have filled up…
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The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division in Philadelphia, PA gave Naval Automation Group in Norfolk, VA a $19.8 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for Tank Level Indicating (TLI) Systems which are to be installed on various classes of Naval ships. You need it in your car. they need it in their ships.

Work will be performed in Norfolk, VA and work is expected to be complete by June 2010. Contract funds in the amount of $2.5 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Federal Business Opportunities website, with 1 offer received (N65540-08-D-0003).

Basic Nuclear Propulsion
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Several navies around the world currently use nuclear propulsion in at least some ships and submarines: The USA has had an all-nuclear submarine fleet for over 50 years, a policy that dates back to Adm. Hyman Rickover. As our readers were quick to point out, Britain’s sale of its SSK Upholder Class to Canada (as the problem-plagued Victoria Class) made them an all-nuclear fleet as well. China, France and Russia also use naval nuclear propulsion, and India is currently working to join this club via its SSN program. On the surface, France’s trouble-plagued FNS Charles de Gaulle joins America’s USS Enterprise and its Nimitz Class carriers.

The saga of the Charles de Gaulle serves as a reminder that adapting nuclear propulsion technology to the small spaces of a submarine, or fitting them to a surface warship, is no trivial feat. Much can go wrong, even in nations that have used nuclear naval propulsion for some time. On the flip side, advances in design can offer significant benefits. The new nuclear plants in America’s Virginia Class and Seawolf Class, and Britain’s new Astute Class, fast attack submarines, and the USA’s forthcoming CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carriers, sport new reactor designs that will save billions over the life of each ship by eliminating the standard mid-life reactor refueling.

This FOCUS article covers related American contracts since the beginning of FY 2006, and will be updated and backdated as circumstances allow. Note that all contracts noted here are awarded by The US Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC, and that completion date or other additional information are provided for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program contracts as a matter of official policy. Other contracts related to maintenance, however, may show completion dates.

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CH-53E at work
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Stop us if you’ve had a laptop and heard this refrain before: your battery draws down when not being used. If it’s recharged, it may “remember” the level it was at and can’t be brought back to full capacity. The maximum level of charge also keeps dropping. This means more frequent battery replacements if you want them to be of much use. Turns out the US Navy has heard this one too, only the NiCad batteries weren’t in laptops. They were in F-5 “aggressor” aircraft at Top Gun, powering the inertial navigation system and emergency wingtip speed brakes on EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft, running fire suppression and emergency exit lighting on H-53 helicopters, and offering last-chance backup for items like aircraft flight-control computers in case the main engine-driven generator should fail.

On the H-53 heavy lift helicopters, for example, 1 in 12 NiCad batteries failed every month because of poor design. Constant charging, maintenance to remove “memory effect,” and replacement was taking a costly toll in batteries. At 37,000 hours a year for the H-53 fleet, it was also taking a heavy toll on maintenance time. Something had to be done – and NAVAIR’s Propulsion and Power Department had an idea…

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DDG-1000 Destroyer

Alion Science and Technology in Chicago, IL received a $9.8 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract for research and development activities associated with the development of Integrated Power Systems Advanced Modules and Conceptual Engineering/Ship Implementation. The Contractor will develop shipboard electrical system architectures and characterize Next Generation Integrated Power System components. Work will be performed in Annapolis, MD and is expected to be completed by January 2013. Contract funds in the amount of $162,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via Broad Agency Announcement; 68 white papers were received, 19 proposals were requested, and 18 awards have been made. The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC is the contracting activity (N00024-08-C-4201).

That’s a lot of activity. Why so much? Part of the reason is the strong trend, in the US Navy and in the rest of the world, toward all-electric ships that replace all steam powered, hydraulically powered, or pneumatically/mechanically powered components with electrically-driven components. These components, and the propulsion drive, would be powered as a single pool by a single set of generators linked to the ship’s turbines. The result would be a ship that is quieter, easier to maintain (with additional help from the F-35 program’s ‘intelligent wiring’ advances), has more internal space available, and uses less fuel. The cruise ship industry has led the transition toward all electric ships, the new T-AKE cargo ships employ a modified version of those advances, and the DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class destroyers/ light cruisers would be the first American ship with all-electric drive and fully integrated power management. Meanwhile, research into tougher electronics that can take advantage of this power continues, as does more overtly offensive research around electro-magnetic weapons like rail guns. See the NDIA’s “All-Electric Ship Could Begin to Take Shape By 2012” for additional background.

Small business qualifier Chemical Specialists and Development, Inc. in Conroe, TX received a minimum $11.6 million fixed price with economic price adjustment, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for fuel system icing inhibitor. This is a 12 month contract with a 30-day carryover period, and the date of performance completion is January 30, 2009.

Work will be performed in Conroe, TX and in Georgia, New Jersey, California, and Washington. The proposals were originally solicited by FBO with 3 responses to the Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) at Fort Belvoir, VA (SP0600-08-D-0752).

He likes it…
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Small business qualifier Southern Counties Oil Co., doing business as SC Fuels in Orange, CA won a $7 million modification to a fixed price with economic price adjustment contract for biodiesel fuel on behalf of the US Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. There were 28 proposals originally solicited with 21 responses, and the date of performance completion is Aug 31/09. The Defense Energy Support Center, Fort Belvoir, VA issued the contract (SP0600-06-D-4528).

SC Fuels has already worked with Disneyland [PDF] and Safeway grocery stores on biodiesel projects. Most forms of biodiesel fuel actually end up requiring more energy inputs to produce and refine than they produce as outputs, which makes them very dubious replacements for fossil fuels. Nevertheless, the US military is running a number of experiments and solicitations involving biodiesel and synthetic blends in its aircraft and vehicles, in case strategic issues or improved production techniques make some level of biodiesel replacement an intelligent option in future. In situations where future uncertainty is high, a strategy of placing a diverse array of low-priced options on various possibilities, with follow-on investment as circumstances dictate, is a standard recommendation.

Offshoring aerospace work to India is a growing trend, and the Indian defense market’s combination of obvious opportunity and required industrial offsets has many foreign firms working to line up partners. Raytheon recently announced signed memorandums of understanding with 5 major Indian companies, as part of their “plan to build a team committed to providing the best solutions for India’s military forces…. [These agreements] represent another step toward establishing a strong working relationship, encouraging pursuit of emerging business opportunities, and providing for in-country offset. They also will pave the way for more exchanges of technology and business know-how between India and the U.S.”

These MoUs join a 6th signed earlier this year, leaving Raytheon positioned via relationships with Bharat Electronics Limited, Data Patterns (India) Private Limited, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Limited, Larsen & Toubro Limited, the Strategic Electronics Division of Tata Power Company, and Wipro Limited. These firms produce a wide range of products for India’s military in the areas of communications, radar, naval systems, telecommunications and broadcast, electronic warfare, tank electronics, opto-electronics, professional electronic components, and solar photovoltaic systems.

Our readers aren’t the only ones with electricity bills to pay. Governments of all levels get them, including the military. In addition, the military’s purchasing power often makes it easier and cheaper for federal civilian government agencies to include themselves in these contracts than to negotiate and manage their own. Individual locations like the Fermi National Accelerator Lab can rack up truly impressive annual bills – and see these March 2006 New Jersey & Maryland contracts as another recent example.

DID ran a Spotlight article covering October 2006 electricity contracts, and we thought we’d do the same thing this year. Did we end up over, under, or about the same?

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M1 tank’s turbine
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Small business qualifier Rotordynamics-Seal Research in Loomis, CA received a $15 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity Phase III Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract for Topic N03-027, entitled “Useful Life Remaining Models for Turbine Engine Hot Section Components.” Work will be performed in Loomis, CA, and is expected to be complete in May 2009. This contract was competitively procured via a request for proposals; 14 proposals were received by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, NJ (N68335-07-D-0023)

Turbines are packaged and used in a number of ways on aircraft, ships, land vehicles, and even power generation plants; but they’re essentially jet engines. The “hot section” is often the first to wear out, which exerts a strong influence on a turbine engine’s total life span because replacing it may not be economically sensible. RSR informed DID that this SBIR project has evolved to a multidisciplinary software/analysis model, however, using RAPPID™ software for predicting transient vibration in the entire turbine engine. These transient vibrations can lead to cracks, and cracks can cause big problems. The thing is, trying to create a 3-D model of this type for the whole engine goes beyond reasonable computing capacity limits at present. The key, therefore, is a model that can use varying fidelity simulation to target intensive computing resources only on the parts likely to matter.

It certainly is an innovative approach, and one that’s relevant to a variety of industries and turbine applications. A Phase III SBIR award generally means that their approach is considered to be almost ready for commercialization, and some spinouts from Phases I & II have already been commercialized. This grant aims to get the entire system to that stage. For our many readers outside the USA, however, RSR’s Joe Pelletti cautions that the entire system’s ITAR status as a commercial vs. military-designated item remains something of an open question once all modules are combined together. Countries like Canada, Australia, and Britain who have preferential ITAR access may have an easier time, but export lawyer Mike Deal writes us to note that treaties like the Wassenaar Arrangement (ECCN 9A001 and/or 9A003, and possibly others) may also apply.

F-16I “Soufa”
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As part of the 1979 Camp David peace accords, the USA offered substantial long-term military aid packages to Israel and Egypt. Aside from the geopolitical considerations involved, these packages have been good for American industry because the dollars must be spent on American goods.

While Egypt did not and does not have a significant independent defense industry, Camp David’s aftermath saw a major shift away from Soviet weaponry and toward American alternatives on land, sea, and air. The recent $850 million request for Abrams tanks is a good example. In contrast, Israel has a globally competitive defense industry; because it can allocate American foreign assistance dollars to pay American firms, however, the country always finds itself balancing investment in domestic capabilities and spending against its pool of “free” American industry purchases. Or even investing in American plants and jobs to produce Israeli designs.

Amidst rumors of a planned attack by Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in late 2007, Israel has made $1.1 billion worth of military purchase requests so far in August 2007. Almost all concern her air force, the Cheyl Ha’avir...

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