In November, the National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) announced the selection of 13 panel projects, supported by over $2.55 million in government funding. These projects were chosen from proposals submitted in response to the Panel Project Solicitation issued in June 2024.
The projects were awarded to nine prime contractors, with Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding receiving the bulk of the 13. The shipyard heads four of the projects and is involved in six overall. Each project aims to deliver results within nine to 12 months. The selected projects include:
Laser hybrid tack welding of structural steel fillet weld joints
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding is the project's prime contractor. The goal of this project is to test the weldment and heat affected zone material properties resulting from an IPG LightWeld XR laser welding system used to produce tack welds, which are then welded on top of with various conventional shipyard welding processes. Proving that the heat-affected zone of the tacks is not negatively impacted by the laser beam will provide a path for shipyards to pursue qualification for using the process to produce tack welds. This project has a 12-month timeline.
Extended recoat windows for non-critical zones
Elzly is the project's prime contractor, partnering with HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding. The study will test the impact of surface preparation methods on coatings for interior non-critical surfaces, such as bulkheads and overheads, over a 12-month timeline.
Semi-automatic stud welding gun for capacitor discharge stud welding
HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding is the prime contractor on the project, partnering with HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding and General Dynamics Electric Boat to design, develop and test a prototype semi-automatic stud welding gun that will reduce manual handling and improve efficiency by automating stud loading and welding processes. The project has a 12-month timeline.
Evaluation of digital twin technologies for in-situ ballast tank inspection
The prime contractor is Southwest Research Institute. Project partners include HII's Ingalls, HII's Newport News, and BAE Systems. This project will analyze the precision and reliability of 3D mapping technologies using underwater inspection robots for ballast tank evaluations over a 12-month period.
Training modules for applicable NAVSEA tech pub and spec
The prime contractor is HII's Newport News Shipbuilding who will work alongside HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding over a 12-month period. A training program will be developed for suppliers in the Naval welding industrial base, with the American Welding Society (AWS) refining and delivering the materials nationwide.
15kV MIL-SPEC (Military spec) cable development for Navy ships
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding is the prime contractor, working with General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, and HII’s Newport News over a 12-month span. The goal of the project is to design and manufacture a cable that would be fully MIL-DTL-24643 compliant for use in U.S. Navy 13.8 kV, 60 Hz power systems. The goal would be realized by identifying new materials and/or modifying the cable construction to meet requirements for circuit integrity (i.e., must survive a 3-hour flame test for vital designated cables) and incorporating a water blocking system in the cable.
Shipboard fiber optic cables jacket performance enhancements
RSL Fiber Systems is the prime contractor, partnering with HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding over a 12-month span. This project will continue the evaluation of Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSZH), low toxicity thermoplastic jacketing materials to determine their suitability for use in all shipboard applications including data networks, distributed sensing, remote source lighting, and power delivery by performing selected tests in accordance with M85045.
Completion of an incline experiment without use of a pendulum
The project’s prime contractor is General Dynamics NASSCO who is partnering with Austal USA over a 12-month duration. The goal of this project is to validate digital measurement devices are a suitable replacement for pendulums in an incline experiment.
Deck Shock Simulating Shock Machine (DSSM) latch adjustment mechanism
HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding is the primary contractor for the 12-month project. Objectives for the project include the design, testing, and documenting of new latch adjustment mechanisms for DSSM latches, improving maintenance and inspection procedures.
Integrate MAESTRO ship structural design software with Femap/Nastran software
Prime contractor for the project is MAESTRO Marine. HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding will partner with MAESTRO over the 12-month project. The goal of the project is to improve the current state of design tools and practice by integrating the ship-specific MAESTRO software tools, including automation of design criteria evaluation and optimization with the Siemens Femap/Nastran finite element analysis software that is widely used throughout the U.S. Naval ship design and in-service engineering enterprise. The project's goal is to make the structural design process faster, more accurate, and more agile.
Defect characterization of Navy ship structures with active UMI
The prime contractor is Antech Systems who will partner with Norfolk Naval Shipyard for the 12-month project. During which, a new active UMI system will be tested to identify corrosion and plate thinning under coatings, aiming to reduce inspection costs.
Pulsed-laser comparison tool
The prime contractor is Penn State ARL, who will partner with HII’s Newport News, GD’s Bath Iron Works and HII’s Ingalls shipbuilding over the 12-months project. This project will develop a pulsed laser comparison map to enable users to move from one laser, of similar wavelength but non-identical specifications, to another based on energy density and resulting material properties.
Potential for applying artificial intelligence (AI) in shipyard processes
HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding will serve as the prime contractor, partnering with HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding. This project has two goals. The first goal is focused on strategic efforts involving industry review and categorization of AI capabilities aligned with shipbuilding processes for optimization, and use case review and development with ODU on their Defense Manufacturing Mission Readiness Tool. The second AI objective includes tactical efforts involving pilot evaluation of AI proposals from Ingall’s large language model, and mission technology AI capabilities for identifying and predicting maintenance events. This project is expected to last nine months.
