SEA CORP to Develop Navy Launchers

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport (NUWC) has awarded Systems Engineering Associates Corporation (SEA CORP) of Middletown, Rhode Island a $ 3.7 million contract to continue development of shipboard launchers using automotive airbag inflator technology. The initial work, performed over a period of three years under a two-phased Small Business Innovation Research contract, resulted in the successful demonstration of both surface ship torpedo and submarine countermeasure launcher prototypes. As in the previous efforts, NUWC will be providing technical oversight and guidance for the new project.

Phase three of the project calls for an intensive analysis of the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of taking systems based on this technology to sea in current and future ships and submarines. Working closely with NUWC engineers, SEA CORP will continue its design work, with modeling and simulation leading to designs for new prototypes and production systems. According to SEA CORP's lead engineer for this project, Dave Lussier, "We expect this new type of launcher to provide the Navy with several advantages, both in cost and operational effectiveness. We're taking inexpensive, commercially-available components the automotive airbag gas generators and applying them to specific military applications, as opposed to the more common approach of designing everything from scratch to meet military specifications. We can get the equipment into the fleet faster and more economically using these off-the-shelf items."

In addition to its launcher development program, the company is also preparing to build a low-cost, portable control system for submarine-launched torpedoes and mobile underwater mines. "These SBIR contracts," said SEA CORP's President, Brian Gilligan, "are leading the company's expansion of its business base to include design, development and, ultimately, production of new military systems incorporating the latest technology."

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