By Geoff Fein
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has awarded General Atomics a follow-on task order valued at $22 million for the completion of an Advanced Containment Launcher (ACL) in support of ONR’s Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) Railgun program, the company said.
This 34-month effort is focused on the final design, fabrication, and testing of an ACL prototype capable of delivering a muzzle energy of 32 megajoules.
“This ACL is geared toward a demonstration in 2011,” Tom Hurn, director, advanced weapon launcher programs, told Defense Daily yesterday.
General Atomics has been working on this effort since 2005, Hurn added. “This is the third phase of the program.”
General Atomics recently completed the previous phase of the program involving the preliminary design and technology development of the ACL that culminated in successful completion of a Preliminary Design Review.
The ability to deliver a muzzle energy of 32 megajoules in a tactical application would provide a range of up to 110 nautical miles, which is far greater than any conventional guns currently in use by the Navy, the company said.
“This program is an important demonstration of General Atomics’ capability and commitment through internal investments toward providing cutting-edge, game-changing technology to the warfighter,” Scott Forney, vice president of General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Division, said.
In addition to General Atomics, the team includes Boeing [BA], General Dynamics [GD] Armament and Technical Products, L-3 Communications [LLL] Pulse Sciences, Jackson Engineering, and SPARTA Composites.
The rail gun launcher technology uses high power electromagnetic thrust instead of explosive chemical propellants to launch a projectile farther and faster than any preceding gun. The eventual fielded system is expected to launch guided projectiles at speeds up to Mach 7.5 with a range of more than 200 nautical miles.
In this business area, General Atomics is also developing a direct-fire railgun system for ship and air defense use, is providing high energy capacitor banks to the Navy to support laboratory testing at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va., and has developed transportable pulsed power systems for testing of railgun systems at remote test ranges.
General Atomics does have some tests planned this summer using a smaller scale railgun system built using internal research and development (IRAD) funds, Hurn said.
To support those tests, General Atomics used its own funding to develop a transportable pulse power system–capacitor banks–designed to be transportable, he added.
“We need power systems appropriate for the proving grounds,” Hurn said.
Those systems are integrated into commercial shipping containers for ease of mobility, he added.
Testing will take place at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.
Capacitors are the most mature technology approach to provide the energy required to operate the railgun, Hurn added.
“General Atomics has been under contract since 2004 to develop a capacitor bank system for all demonstrations at (Naval Surface Warfare Center) Dahlgren,” he said.
For both applications, General Atomics is using high energy density capacitors developed by General Atomics Electronic Systems Inc. (GA ESI) through work partially funded by the Army Capacitor Development Program.