MARYLAND (26 Dec 2006) -- A Northrop Grumman division in Maryland is seeking to develop a technology designed to propel small submarines and other manned submersibles up to 115 mph. Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, a sister company of the Newport News shipyard, won a $46 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, to develop what's being dubbed the "Underwater Express" to move both people and specialty cargo. The speed that's envisioned -- 100 knots, or about 115 mph -- is four times the advertised speed of typical Navy submarines now in the fleet. "If you can move it at 100 knots in a stable fashion, it would transform logistics," said Paul Cabellon, a Northrop spokesman. "It's like going from propeller planes to jet engines. It's that much of a jump in technology to get that to work." Aside from Northrop Grumman, DARPA also tapped General Dynamics Electric Boat on a competing $37 million effort to develop an alternative underwater vehicle under the same initiative. "They'll downselect at some point to one," said Bob Hamilton, an Electric Boat spokesman. The company that's chosen will build a working quarter-scale or half scale version of the submersible. The project is designed to use what's called "supercavitation." That is, when an underwater object moves fast enough, a pocket of air forms between the hull and the water. That reduces drag on the vessel and increases its speed even more. Or, as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency worded it in a recent budget request to Congress: "Supercavitation places the vehicle inside a cavity where vapor replaces the water, and viscosity is reduced by orders of magnitude, thus reducing the power requirement dramatically." That is, there's far less drag cutting through the air than cutting through the water. The supercavitation technology, Cabellon said, is not new. In fact, the Russians used it in the 1960s to design an underwater torpedo that can cut through the water more quickly than most torpedoes. But the new technology, if developed, would go well beyond that, particularly with more advanced steering and guidance capabilities. | | The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said it plans to operate the vessel close to the surface and pump additional air from the vessel into the cavity -- both steps designed to make it operate even more efficiently. Only about 10 people are now working full time on the project for Northrop, though that could ramp up as the project gets going. Northrop Grumman Newport News, a builder of nuclear powered submarines, is so far not participating in the project. Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems fared poorly in its last submarine building project, the Advanced Seal Delivery System, or ASDS. The U.S. Special Operations Command canceled the program after delays, overruns and malfunctions in the first vessel. Aside from General Dynamics, based in Falls Church, and Northrop's Electronic Systems division, based in Annapolis, Md., other team members will be included, too. Pennsylvania State University will participate in the project, as will the University of Minnesota, the University of Maryland, the Navy's Naval Undersea Warfare Center, in Newport, RI, and BBN Technologies, of Cambridge, Mass. In the first phase of the contract, to run until late 2007 and worth $5.4 million to Northrop, the team is set to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology and produce a conceptual design. Then, if all goes well, there are two 15-month optional phases. In the first option, worth $17 million to Northrop, the team would establish the detailed design for the underwater. In the third option, worth $23.4 million to Northrop, the team would actually build a demonstration vehicle that could operate at 100 knots for up to 10 minutes. SOURCE - Daily Press |
