Page 41 - NAVAL FORCES 03/2017

Protection & Mobility

revisions to the training, doctrine and opera- the performance of the system in a represent- “After scheduling combat systems accept-
ting guidance provided to crews. ative environment prior to installation on the ance trials for the lead ship in the third quarter
Through the PIP, the ships will be cut open ship.” Land based tests, the GAO continued, of fiscal year 2017, the Navy has delayed this
and either one or two extra (and upgraded) were conducted on a configuration represent- activity to early 2018,” he wrote. Features
diesel gensets will be installed to add extra ca- ing only half the system. Further plans called The DDG 1000 IPS is an instantiation of
pacity and improve overall system resilience. for test equipment to be installed aboard DDG what the US Navy calls a Next Generation
1002 USS “Lyndon B. Johnson” as a “cost- Integrated Power System (NGIPS), which is
Electric DDG, effective” risk reduction measure. described as technology roadmap that estab-
“As a result, the Navy reported that nu-
Mechanical Failure merous issues with the power conversion and lishes the Navy’s goal of incorporating a Me-
dium Voltage DC (MVDC) IPS in future sur-
While recent publicity for DDG 1000 distribution system were discovered during face combatants and submarines, according to
“Zumwalt” has not been good thanks to break- land-based testing but not resolved before ship Cpt. Norbert H. Doerry of Naval Sea Systems
downs on the way from Bath Iron Works ship- installation”, GAO continued. “Because land- Command. The “Zumwalt” IPS, however, is a
yard on the US east coast to the ship’s home based testing did not include testing to repli- near term application and therefore incorpo-
port of San Diego, including a particularly cate shipboard power loads, power disturbanc- rates Medium Voltage AC and High Frequency
embarrassing propulsion failure in the Pana- es were discovered during shipboard testing.” AC power generation. All NGIPS versions are
ma Canal, the problem was again mechanical It is against this background that Congres- to incorporate a Zonal Electrical Distribution
and cooling related: An oil cooler leaked and sional Research Service naval analyst Ronald System that will build on experience gained
allowed salt water into a bearing on one of the O’Rourke said that one of the procurement with the Integrated Fight Thru Power system
propulsion motor shafts, causing it to seize. issues that Congress must address is that the developed for DDG 1000, Doerry wrote.
The navy announced a temporary fix in early navy lacks an announced roadmap for, “intro-
April, swapping from salt water to fresh in the ducing large numbers of ships with integrated Modular NGIPS
heat exchangers before an eventual redesign. electric drive systems or other technologies
While the US Navy argues that it success- that could provide ample electrical power NGIPS has established a standard set of
fully demonstrated the ship’s Integrated Power for supporting future electrically powered module types that will be incorporated into
System (IPS) during initial sea trials in De- weapons.” all conforming IPS in future. For example,
cember 2015, the Government Accountability He also emphasised programme officials’ Power Generation Modules convert fuel to
Office (GAO) noted in a March 2016 report warning that combat systems testing and ac- electrical power. While today these are gas
that issues with the power conversion and tivation relies on stable power, and will in- turbine and diesel generators, the definition
distribution system, “were due, in part, to the troduce new challenges for the power system allows for new technologies such as fuel cells.
navy’s decision to not fully test and validate beyond those encountered to date. Power Distribution Modules consist of the

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