The Department of the Navy (DON) has issued a broad agency announcement as part of the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program soliciting proposals for the development of materials and/or processes addressing existing deficiencies related to lifespan and performance of radar absorbing materials (RAM) for the DDG-1000 class surface warship. Targeted RAM tile applications are intended to reduce ship susceptibility to radio frequency (RF) threats and enable unique DDG-1000 mission sets but existing materials are showing premature, in-service failures and delamination typically concentrated around the thin, outer-most Environmental Layer of the multilayered tile. This Environmental Layer (EL) is intended to maximize RF transmission into the underlying absorbing materials while also providing those materials with abrasion, moisture ingress, chemical, and flame resistance and protection. Its recurring failure poses a major survivability risk to the DDG-1000 mission. In addition, there is an urgent need to build a domestic manufacturing base that facilitates expanded production capacity and accessibility to proven, customizable material solutions that have potential multi-agency / multi-platform application. An exponential increase in production scale and efficiency will be required to accelerate dielectric material access for future ships and craft programs in the event of emergency mobilization. Access to these materials will be critical both in meeting increasingly stringent signature and susceptibility requirements while also reducing attrition risk of in-service signature-capable platforms over the duration of a potentially prolonged, future near-peer conflict. The approach identified by Materials Sciences LLC (MSC) focuses on the industrialization of a proven Government Off the Shelf (GOTS) polyurethane (PU) based Protective Coating (PC) material system that is currently being implemented on Navy platforms. This manufacturing scale-up will leverage polyurethane processing equipment currently residing at MSCs production facility in Greenville, SC in order to produce customizable variations of the GOTS material in sheet/roll-stock material forms versus the low-rate casting and spray-up methods currently used to date. These alternative material forms will enable a direct substitution for the DDG-1000 EL application with a serviceable, proven maritime alternative. It should be noted that while the base-formulation and overarching material approach have been Government-Developed, MSC is proposing to leverage that approach while modifying and optimizing the formulation to facilitate high-rate production while also meeting the DDG-1000 requirements established in the solicitation.
Benefit: Numerous Navy entities have explored the benefits of specialized Radar Absorbent Material (RAM) solutions to signature and susceptibility requirements but have often declined acquisition on account of the cost and/or lack of ready access. Instead, most have opted to use COTS material solutions (many of which were not intended for maritime use) and have seen varying or inconclusive results resulting from a lack of ability to survive the maritime environment or inability to customize materials to specific end-user requirements. This effort would develop cost-effective environmental layer formulations of proven maritime materials with innovative additives meeting DDG-1000 RAM dielectric performance specifications while eliminating risk of premature mechanical failures. Inclusive in this proposal is the development of a manufacturing plan for an advanced future production capability to respond to anticipated expansion in volumetric production requirements and surges in demand for composite and polymer material solutions stemming from operational stealth requirements of the DDG-1000 class warship and other DoD stakeholders. The demand for RAM is propelling owing to factors such as the increasing adoption of RAM in automotive industries, surging advancement in electronic and communication technologies, and an extensive investment by the government in the defense sector. The expanding innovations & new developments in RAM as well as escalating R&D activities further mount the market growth. In addition to DDG-1000, various future USVs and other surface warship/craft applications will benefit from the scalability and design customization capabilities to be developed upon contract award of this proposal. These capabilities are expected to be of high interest to numerous U.S. military stakeholders including USSOCOM (see included Letter of Support ), USMC, SSP, and others. As a result, all Phase I work accomplished under this topic will be executed with intent to optimize and industrialize the material design and production for follow-on phases.
Keywords: Non-Specialized Installation, Non-Specialized Installation, High-Rate Production, Tunable Dielectric Properties, maintainability improvements, Low Maintenance RAM, Improved RAM Lifespan, Radar absorbing material (RAM), Durable Environmental Layer
