|
Other SAE Magazines Sites
|
|
Technology update
An electromagnetic aircraft launch system for the Navy
-
The U.S. Navy has awarded General Atomics of San Diego, CA, a contract for the program definition and risk reduction phase of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) program. The 45-month program will produce a full-scale, reduced-length, fully integrated prototype EMALS, which will replace the current steam catapults in the Navy's next-generation aircraft carriers, the CVNX. Four launch systems will be required on each new aircraft carrier, which are planned to be operational by 2013.
The EMALS system will employ a 300-ft long linear electric motor to accelerate a 100,000-lb aircraft to over 130 kts and a lighter aircraft to 200 kts. The system's state-of-the-art electronics, energy storage, and linear motor technologies are expected to produce significant improvements over existing steam-powered catapults. Using EMALS, the Navy expects to increase its launch performance while reducing the system's installed weight, volume, and workload requirements. The system should also be effective at reducing peak launch forces on the Navy's aircraft.
The majority of the development work will be performed at the General Atomics facility in San Diego and supported by testing activities at the Navy's Lakehurst, NJ, facility. Other development work will be carried out at EMALS team member facilities, which include J.J. McMullen Associates in Newport News, VA; Foster Miller Inc. in Boston, MA; Boeing in Downey, CA; the University of Texas Center for Electro-
mechanics in Austin, TX; BWX Technologies in Lynchburg, VA; Maxwell Technologies in San Diego, CA; SatCon in Boston, MA; and STV in Lakehurst, NJ.
Frank Bokulich
Aerospace Engineering April 2000
|
|
|
