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Advanced Sabot System Design
Navy SBIR 2008.1 - Topic N08-053 NAVSEA - Mr. Dean Putnam - [email protected] Opens: December 10, 2007 - Closes: January 9, 2008 N08-053 TITLE: Advanced Sabot System Design TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Weapons ACQUISITION PROGRAM: ACAT II: Gun Weapon Systems Technology program, Naval Surface Fire Support The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation. OBJECTIVE: Develop a low-cost, lightweight, high-strength sabot system for use in high acceleration (40kGee) gun launch projectile sabots. DESCRIPTION: In order to maximize range and lethality of saboted projectiles, the parasitic weight associated with the sabots should be minimized; yet the in high acceleration applications (40-kGee) the sabots must withstand tremendous amounts of mechanical stress. The mass associated with sabots fabricated from traditional materials (aluminum) accounts for too large a percentage of the overall launch package (projectile and sabots). The use of lightweight, high-strength materials should minimize the parasitic mass of the sabots, thus maximizing the projectile weight, lethality and range. In order to be a viable alternative, the sabot system should also be of relatively low cost when compared to other sabot materials. PHASE I: Develop or demonstrate a sabot system that is inexpensive to produce, launch survivable and of relatively low density. Specifically, the system must survive accelerations of 40 kG in set back and 12.5 kG in both balloting and set forward. The contractor should provide material samples with testing results and structural analysis to support its use. PHASE II: Fabricate sabot prototypes and demonstrate gun-launch survivability via air- or chemical-gun launches. Projectile design and gun bore dimensions will be provided by the Navy. PHASE III: In FY04, the Office of Naval Research embarked on an Innovative Naval Prototype for an Electromagnetic Gun System. Concept hypersonic flight demonstrations will occur in which a series of saboted airframes will be both chemically and electromagnetically launched. The contractor will provide sabots throughout the test series. Successful demonstrations will facilitate transition into the follow-on System Development & Demonstration Acquisition Program sponsored by NAVSEA IWS3C. PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Low-cost, light-weight, and high-strength components are always in demand by the aerospace and transportation industries. REFERENCES: 2. http://www.its.caltech.edu/%7Evitreloy/development.htm 3. www.llnl.gov/str/pdfs/05_99.1.pdf KEYWORDS: sabot; light-weight; high-strength; high acceleration; gun launch; lethality TPOC: Myron Thomas
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