General Atomics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jun 20, 2008

San Diego, California, 20 June, 2008. General Atomics (GA) finalized a $1.1 million, two-year contract with Umoe Mandal (USA), Inc. to support their effort to develop the Phase II preliminary design for the sea connector Transformable Craft (T-Craft) for the US Office of Naval Research (ONR).

The T-Craft is a high-speed vessel intended to deploy in unloaded condition and travel more than 2500 nm to reach a sea base. Once it makes a connection to the sea base transport ship it would then have the ability to serve as a high-speed connector ship, carrying tanks, vehicles, personnel and cargo payloads up to 750 long tons, at speeds of over 40 knots to the beachhead.

Umoe Mandal was one of four competitors during the Phase I ONR effort for the T-Craft conceptual design. GA’s Electromagnetic Systems (EMS) division assisted Umoe during Phase I of the effort to develop alternative propulsion schemes based on hybrid electric drive that could replace the traditional mechanical shaft drive designs. EMS developed several unique designs that provided significant advantages over the mechanical design and eliminated complex gearboxes and difficult, space-consuming shaft alignments. The hybrid electric drive can allow more cargo-carrying space, better ship layouts and easier cargo transfer.

Jim Zgliczynski, EMS Director of Motors, Generators and Navy Integrated Power Systems says, “ONR specifically mentioned the innovative GA hybrid electric drive design as one of the reasons that Umoe was given a high technical evaluation in the selection as one of three competitors to develop the T-Craft in Phase II.” During Phase II, GA EMS will complete the preliminary design of the hybrid electric propulsion drive.

General Atomics is a San Diego-based innovation firm with a 50-year history of successful solutions for environmental, energy, and defense challenges. GA specializes in performing innovative R&D and transforming conceptual results into practical systems.

For further information contact:

Carl Fisher
Director, Business Development
Advanced Technologies Group
(202) 496-8217
carl.fisher@ga.com

Doug Fouquet
Public Relations
(858) 455-2173
fouquet@ga.com

For high-resolution picture, contact:
Nancy Hitchcox
Marketing Communications Manager
Advanced Technologies Group
(858) 676-7161
nancy.hitchcox@ga.com