KaZaK Composites recently joined Raytheon and the US Navy to celebrate as the technology formally transitioned to Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III production – a critical milestone for an SBIR programme.
"KaZaK's use of the pultrusion manufacturing process contributes to significant cost savings for the US Navy," reports Jerome Fanucci, President/CEO of pultrusion specialist KaZaK Composites, headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts, USA. "We were able to design the ballistic screens to the specifications set forth by the US Navy in a cost effective manner through the use of proprietary KaZaK manufacturing processes that are less labour intensive, thereby reducing the overall cost of the new design."
The pre-SBIR concept design for the Zumwalt-class destroyer ballistic screens utilised ceramics and a composites moulding process that were not cost effective for this application.
"The Phase III production contract is a big win for the entire KaZaK team," says John Schickling, EVP/COO of KaZaK. "The engineering team worked closely with Raytheon IDS to come up with a solution that achieved their goal of providing ballistic screens for the Zumwalt-class destroyer that was both effective and cost efficient."
Working with the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) acquisition team, KaZaK and Raytheon initiated an accelerated design, prototyping and test programme in 2008. The prototype and subsequent full-scale designs were validated through successful live-fire testing in 2008 and 2009. NAVSEA provided a prime contract modification to Raytheon for mission systems equipment. This enabled a SBIR Phase III subcontract award to KaZaK in September 2009 for long-lead material to produce the ballistic screens for the first two Zumwalt ship sets.
It is estimated that KaZaK’s contributions could potentially save the US Navy an estimated US$10 million per ship.
