Submarine Propeller Shaft Interrogation

"The US Navy is aggressively pursuing technologies that reduceship maintenance costs while also increasing the availability ofthe ships. Foster-Miller has pioneered several methods ofmachinery and system inspection and maintenance to reduce costs.Two ultrasonic inspection techniques that yield a full inspectionof submarine propeller shafts in-situ were demonstrated in Phase1. The Phase II program verifies and refines the Long RangePulse Echo technique. A cost benefit analysis is performed and afinal technique is chosen. In the base portion of the program, asystem will be specified, built, deployed, and tested. In theoption portion of the program, the prototype system will bedeployed. At program completion, NAVSEA will have a working,proven, documented prototype shaft inspection system. As apractical matter, we are targeting SSN 688 Class ships for thisPhase II program due to the number of vessels in service and theage of the ships.Foster-Miller, together with subcontractors Electric Boat and AEATechnologies, presents a team that excels in robust techniquesand their development, in implementation in specific anddifficult geometries and environments, and in quality assuranceat the highest level on a very expensive, critical end product.(P-030015)BENEFITS: Development of this technology integration will permit full inspection of submarine shafts without their removal from the ship. This saves hundreds of thousands of dollars per s