BAE SYSTEMS Awarded $14.7 Million in Contracts for Electro-Magnetic Gun Programs.MINNEAPOLIS -- BAE Systems BAE Systems British manufacturer of aircraft, missiles, avionics, naval vessels, and other aerospace and defense products. BAE Systems was formed (1999) from the merger of British Aerospace (BAe) with Marconi Electronic Systems. was awarded two contracts for development of an electro-magnetic gun system capable of deployment on board naval surface combatant ships. The development work includes a $9.3 million contract from the Office of Naval Research The U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), headquartered in Arlington, Virginia (Ballston), is the office within the U.S. Department of the Navy that coordinates, executes, and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S. (ONR ONR Office of Naval Research ONR Ontario Northland Railway ) to develop technologies and preliminary design for an Electro-Magnetic (EM) railgun prototype and a $5.4M contract from Naval Special Warfare Noun 1. Naval Special Warfare - the agency that provides units to conduct unconventional and counter-guerilla warfare NSW United States Navy, US Navy, USN, Navy - the navy of the United States of America; the agency that maintains and trains and equips Center-Dahlgren for the design and fabrication fabrication (fab´rikā´sh  n),n the construction or making of a restoration. of the U.S Navy's 32 megajule (MJ) Laboratory Launcher. An electro-magnetic railgun uses electrical energy to accelerate projectiles to extreme velocities. Railguns do not require powders or explosives to fire the round and therefore free magazine space for other mission areas. In addition, electro-magnetic guns provide a highly consistent and uniform explosive charge that gives much greater accuracy. BAE Systems was selected by ONR to advance to the next phase of the Innovative Naval Prototype Program. Under this 30-month phase, BAE Systems will take the state-of-the-art Electro-Magnetic Railgun technologies through technology maturation and develop a preliminary design of a 32-MJ EM Railgun. Thirty-two megajule is equivalent to a firing speed of Mach 8 or eight times the speed of sound. This will be an intermediate step on the road to a 64-MJ Tactical System capable of deployment on-board naval surface combatant ships. The design and fabrication of the 32-MJ Laboratory Launcher will serve as a major step towards development of a full-scale tactical EM Gun weapon system for the U.S. Navy. BAE Systems will execute these contracts in conjunction with teammates IAP (Internet Access Provider) See ISP. IAP - Internet Access Provider Research, Inc., Dayton, Ohio and Science Applications International Corporation, Vienna, Va. "BAE Systems has a long history of supporting the U.S. Navy and we're proud to continue that tradition by playing a key role in the EM Gun Program," said Keith Howe, BAE Systems' vice president and general manager Armament Systems. About BAE Systems BAE Systems is the premier trans-Atlantic defense and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services support services Psychology Non-health care-related ancillary services–eg, transportation, financial aid, support groups, homemaker services, respite services, and other services . With more than 100,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded $28 billion in 2005. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion