General Atomics Lands $10.7M R&D Contract for Future Power Systems
Feb 22, 2007 07:27 EST
General Atomics in San Diego, CA is best known for UAVs like the Predator these days – but that isn’t all they do. The firm is also well known for designing power distribution systems used by the US Navy on its aircraft carriers; other specialties include nuclear fuel cycle work, airborne sensors, and advanced electric, electronic, wireless and laser technologies.
The firm recently received a $10.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to research and develop Integrated Power Systems (IPS). IPS provides total ship electric power including electric propulsion, power conversion and distribution, combat system support and mission load interfaces to electric power systems. This is a trend in ship construction…
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The new British/French CVF / PA2 carrier class will be all-electric ships, for instance. So will the USA’s new DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class ‘destroyers’; the IPS is actually one of its key technologies, and a source of some controversy.
A spokesman for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston, SC said, however, the contract is not specifically geared to any platform already under construction. Instead, technologies developed and lessons learned under this R&D contract will be integrated into future systems generally.
Work will be performed in San Diego, CA, and is expected to be complete by Dec 2011. The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC received 14 proposals for the contract (N00024-07-C-4012).
Thanks to DID reader Nat Helms for his assistance with this report.
