Systems Approach to Liquid Hypergolic Propellant Shipboard and Air-Transport Safety of BMDS Elements

The US Navy, through the Weapons Systems Explosive Safety Review Board (WSESRB), has never approved hypergolic liquid propellants for surface ship applications and the US Air Force has limitations on shipping LHP systems. For this proposed project, Streamline Automation will develop a modular and scalable suite of LHP Monitoring & Mitigation systems designed to allow safe air transport and sea-basing of BMDS assets. The system engineering approach will take into account the complex nature of the BMDS acquisition program, including the use of current and planned hypergolic leakage sensor systems. At low concentrations, the primary goal is personnel protection, and an active carbon based scrubber will be used. As the concentration increases, the primary goal will shift to preventing flammable or explosive concentrations from being reached. The mitigation response will also shift to injecting water to rapidly reduce the vapor concentration and dilute liquid puddles. Streamline Automation will coordinate with the Quality, Safety & Mission Assurance Office and with GMD, Aegis BMD, THAAD, and KE Interceptor program offices to comply with their joint requirement and interface specifications and operational concepts. The Phase 2 effort will focus on the development of a full-scale prototype system, and integration with the affected BMDS assets.