POWER PLANT AND STORAGE SYSTEM FOR AN ELECTROMAGNETIC AIRCRAFT LAUNCHER

A NEED EXISTS TO DEVELOP A RELIABLE, COST EFFECTIVE POWER PLANT AND STORAGE SYSTEM FOR AN ELECTROMAGNETIC AIRCRAFT LAUNCHER. THIS SYSTEM CAN BEST BE DEVELOPED AROUND A HIGH ENERGY DENSITY FLYWHEEL COUPLED TO AN ADVANCED ELECTRIC GENERATOR. CONVENTIONAL POWER GENERATION CONCEPTS WOULD BE USED TO CHARGE THE FLYWHEEL BETWEEN LAUNCHES. THE CONTRACTOR WILL REVIEW THE CURRENT STATE-OF-THE-ART IN THE KEY TECHNOLOGY AREAS SUCH AS ROTORS, BEARINGS, ELECTRIC GENERATORS, TRANSMISSIONS AND PRIME MOVERS. A NUMBER OF "STRAWMAN" CONFIGURATIONS WILL BE DEVELOPED AND EVALUATED BASED ON THE CURRENT STATE OF THE APPLICABLE COMPONENT TECHNOLOGIES. THIS EVALUATION WILL BE USED TO SELECT A BASELINE SYSTEM WHICH REPRESENTS THE BEST CANDIDATE FOR DEVELOPMENT, CONSTRUCTION, AND TEST. THE BASELINE SYSTEM WILL BE ANALYZED IN DETAIL INCLUDING COMPONENT PERFORMANCE TRADEOFFS AND IDENTIFICATION OF TECHNOLOGY SHORTFALLS (IF ANY EXIST). AT THE END OF THE PHASE I EFFORT, THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF THE CONCEPT WILL BE VERIFIED AND A BASELINE DESIGN DEFINITION SUFFICIENT TO ALLOW INITIATION OF A DETAILED DESIGN PHASE WILL EXIST. PRELIMINARY CALCULATIONS INDICATE THAT THE CONCEPT IS BOTH FEASIBLE AND THAT IT CAN EASILY EXCEED THE DESIRED PERFORMANCE GOALS.