Navy chooses JBT Corp. to provide next-gen shipboard aircraft electric power plant
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J., 16 Feb. 2015. U.S. Navy aircraft experts have chosen John Bean Technologies (JBT) Corp. in Ogden, Utah, to design and build a new-generation mobile shipboard power generator for Navy and Marine Corps aircraft based on aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.
Officials of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., announced a potential $20.9 million contract to provide as many as 80 new-design shipboard mobile electric power plant (SMEPP) vehicles for Navy ships.
JBT is designing a new SMEPP that is a driveable, four wheel, self-propelled vehicle powered by a diesel engine. The diesel engine not only will be the core of the propulsion system, but it also will drive the SMEPP's electric generator.
The company is designing the SMEPP to be as efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly as possible, and to meet military standards to withstand the effects of shipboard shock and vibration, temperature extremes, humidity and salt spray, and electro-magnetic interference (EMI).
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The new JBT SMEPP vehicle will meet MIL-STD-704F for aircraft power characteristics and EPA tier 3 emission standards, and provide three aircraft servicing power outputs: 115 volts AC, three phase, 400 Hz; 28 volts DC; and 270 volts DC.
JBT's SMEPP will be equipped with internally stored output power cables without reels that can connect to all existing Navy and Marine Corp aircraft.
The power-supply units will incorporate the latest engine, power generation, and power conditioning technologies, and will be transportable in aboard C-5, C-17, C-130, and H-53 military fixed-wing aircraft and heavy-lift helicopters.
JBT Corp. is no stranger to military aircraft support equipment. In 2009 and 2010 the company won Navy contracts to build land-based air conditioner units to support Navy C-130, C-40, C-9, P-8, and P-3 aircraft, as well as supply conditioned air to aircraft equipment and avionics compartments during ground maintenance. In 2008 the company won a $44.6 million U.S. Air Force contract to provide Halvorsen aircraft cargo loaders.
On this contract the Navy will pay JBT Corp. $6.3 million up-front, with the remaining payment depending on the number of SMEPP units ordered. JBT will do the work in Ogden, Utah, and should be finished by December 2019.
For more information contact JBT Corp. online at www.jbtcorporation.com, or the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division-Lakehurst at www.navair.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
