Unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) power experts at Applied Physical Sciences (APS) Corp. in Groton, Conn., are moving forward with a project to develop a highly customized high-performance battery system prototype to enable manned and unmanned undersea vehicles to move through the water faster and more energy-efficiently than ever before.
Officials of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Keyport, Wash., announced a $992,000 contract modification to Applied Physical Sciences on Wednesday to continue the company”s effort to develop a UUV batter prototype as part of the Blue Wolf program of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va.
The NUWC Keyport Division is administering contracting for the DARPA Blue Wolf program, which aims toward at-sea testing of undersea energy, hydrodynamic lift, and drag-reduction technologies.
he Blue Wolf program will develop and demonstrate integrated underwater vehicle prototypes able to operate at speed and range combinations previously unachievable in fixed-size platforms, while retaining traditional volume and weight fractions for payloads and electronics, DARPA officials say.
Applied Physical Sciences has been involved since 2015 in a part of the Blue Wolf program that seeks to develop approaches to hybrid energy systems development such as thermal, electrochemical, or energy-harvesting with two or more energy sources to improve energy efficiency measured in Watt hours per mile.
Applied Physical Sciences experts have been exploring thermal and electric sources like fuel cells and batteries that can fit within an undersea vehicle system module.
The company is developing a high-performance battery system prototype customized for the future Blue Wolf unmanned undersea vehicle. Last January was awarded a contract modification that increased Blue Wolf contract ceiling from $4.2 million to $5.8 million.
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DARPA Blue Wolf Program
Applied Physical Sciences Corp.