General Atomics to Build New Carrier Aircraft Catapults

By RICHARD R. BURGESS
Managing Editor

A sea change in aircraft carrier design and operations is coming with the Navy’s selection of General Atomics to design and build a new method for powering the catapults that launch airplanes from aircraft carriers.

The San Diego-based company has been awarded a five-year, $145 million contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center’s Aircraft Division for the system development and demonstration of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS).

The EMALS will revolutionize aircraft carrier flight operations by replacing the existing maintenance-intensive steam-powered catapults on aircraft carriers, beginning with CVN 78, the first carrier of the next-generation CVN-21 class. The EMALS uses electric current, rather than steam power, to drive a sled attached to the nose gear of an aircraft down a magnetic track, flinging the plane off the carrier’s bow or angle.

General Atomics officials said that the new system would result in lower life-cycle costs by producing less stress on aircraft, aircrews and flight-deck personnel, and requiring fewer personnel to maintain and operate. The EMALS also would eliminate the need for many heavy and complex steam lines running throughout the aircraft carrier.

General Atomics was selected by the Navy after completing a four-year, $80 million program definition phase in competition with Northrop Grumman. General Atomics’ full-scale launcher was installed and evaluated in a half-track at the Naval Air Warfare Center facility in Lakehurst, N.J.

Teamed with General Atomics’ Electronics Systems and Aeronautical Systems sectors are John J. McMullen Associates Inc., Kato Engineering, Foster-Miller Inc., Titan Pulse Sciences Division, STV Inc., and the Center for Electromechanics at the University of Texas.

Lockheed Martin Puts JSF Design on a Diet

Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems has established an additional design team charged with reducing the weight of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the next generation tactical fighter for the U.S. armed forces. The empty weight of the aircraft as currently designed will be over the desired weight for its service entry.

The Lockheed Martin JSF team is not planning any changes to the aircraft’s structural outer shape. The team will focus on reducing weight in such areas as the aircraft’s skin thickness, said Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin vice president and general manager for the JSF program. “Some departure in commonality in piece parts is required,” he said, emphasizing that the number of parts unique to each version is minimal.

The delivery of the first major subassembly of the first F-35 — now two years from its first flight — is expected in June, Burbage said. The company will build the first two F-35s — an F-35A conventional takeoff-and-landing jet and an F-35B short takeoff-and-vertical-landing version — and fly them in early summer 2006. The company will build 12 more development aircraft with mission systems installed, as well as eight static test airframes. The first mission-system-equipped development F-35 aircraft are scheduled to fly in 2007.

Lockheed Martin Changes LCS Hull Design to Light Steel

The Lockheed Martin design proposed for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) will include a hull made of light steel rather than aluminum. The semi-planing monohull — which lifts high in the water as it gains speed — will not suffer any significant penalty in performance by the switch to light steel, company officials said.

The change was made for survivability reasons, said Carol Hulgus, Lockheed Martin’s LCS design team manager. Magnetic signature of the light steel hull will still register well below program requirements. Ten meters was added to the length of the ship to allow a broader beam, in order to accommodate more mission modules.

The Lockheed Martin design predicts a draft of just over 12 feet, which will give the ship more flexibility in where it can operate and the number of ports it can enter. The ship is designed to reach almost 60 knots; accelerate from 0 to 46 knots in less than two minutes; stop from 30 knots in 2.5 lengths; and turn 180 degrees in seven hull lengths at full speed and in three lengths at 30 knots.

The Navy is scheduled to select one or two of the three proposed LCS designs in June for further development. The General Dynamics team is proposing a trimaran design and the Raytheon team is marketing a surface-effects ship design. The LCS is scheduled to enter service in 2007.

Defense Industry Notes

Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems and Sikorsky Aircraft have been awarded Naval Air Systems Command contracts of $84.4 million and $67.8 million, respectively, for the second low-rate initial production batch of MH-60R Seahawk sea-based maritime strike helicopters. In 2006, the companies will deliver four helicopters, the first new-build MH-60Rs. Full-rate production is expected to begin in 2005 and eventually ramp up to 30 aircraft per year, Lockheed Martin officials said. Lockheed Martin is the systems integrator for the MH-60R and the designer of the Common Cockpit installed on the MH-60R, as well as the MH-60S version. Sikorsky builds the airframe of the MH-60R, which is designed to replace the SH-60B/F helicopters on board Navy ships and perform antisurface and antisubmarine operations.

The Marine Corps has taken delivery of its first 10 Litening AT (Advanced Targeting) pods from Northrop Grumman, which is scheduled to deliver 10 more pods and retrofit 47 older Litening Extended Range pods under the $40.3 million contract. The Litening pod is a self-contained, multisensor laser target-designation and navigation system. The AT configuration features enhanced image processing, more precise geo-location of targets for weapons delivery and an improved air-to-air capability. The Marine Corps will install the pods on its AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft.

Boeing has been awarded a $247.6 million Naval Air Systems Command contract modification to build 14 T-45C aircraft for the T-45 Training System. The T-45 is the Navy’s training jet for its strike aircraft pilots and is the only Navy trainer used in carrier landings and launches.

The lead boat of the new class of nuclear-powered attack submarines — the Virginia — has successfully completed test firings of its torpedo tubes. The submarine’s crew and Electric Boat personnel conducted the firing of three dummy torpedoes. The Virginia-class submarines — built by General Dynamics Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding — have rotary torpedo doors instead of hinged doors found on older classes of submarines.

Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded an $82.4 million Naval Air Systems Command contract for the production of 314 AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, including 64 for the Navy, as well as 38 captive air training missiles for the Navy. The AIM-9X is the latest generation heat-seeking air-to-air missile in service with the U.S. armed forces and the air arms of several other nations.

Rockwell Collins has been awarded a $79 million Naval Air Systems Command contract to provide Block I modifications to the Navy’s fleet of 16 E-6B strategic communications and command post aircraft. The Block I modification includes an open system architecture for mission avionics and upgrades to several communications systems, the mission computer, and the aircraft’s electrical power and cooling systems.

Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $52 million Naval Air Systems Command contract to build 34 outer wing panels for the Navy’s EA-6B electronic attack aircraft. The EA-6B fleet has suffered some groundings in recent years from metal fatigue in its wing structures.

Raytheon has delivered the first Improved Thermal Sight System (ITSS) for the Marine Corps’ LAV-25 light armored vehicles. The ITSS is a new, compact sighting system for use by gunners in day or night conditions to shoot at enemy forces at long distances. The Marine Corps is scheduled to complete an evaluation of the system by July. If it is successful, the Marine Corps has the option of ordering as many as 416 systems.