N092-147 TITLE: Over the Horizon Refueling (OTH)

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Ground/Sea Vehicles, Materials/Processes, Weapons

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: OPLOG R&D Program

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: The overall objective of this SBIR is to provide the Sea Base with a twenty-five mile Sea Base to shore fuel delivery capability. That capability will cover all water depths corresponding to being twenty-five miles from the shore.

DESCRIPTION: In an austere port that has no facilities or inadequate facilities for Navy ships and craft to make port, the capability must exist to supply marines, sailors and soldiers with necessary equipment and supplies at the shore and inland. This SBIR will develop a fuel delivery system designed for transporting fuel from at least twenty-five miles offshore to those marines, sailors and soldiers at the shore. The design must:
- Have a life of a minimum of 5-years with degradation of no more than 30% pumping capacity over that 5-year period.
- Be capable of delivering F76, JP5, JP8 and all low sulfur fuels.
- Be capable of being installed with:
. Waves of up to 6 feet and surface currents of up to 3 knots,
. Winds of up to 30 knots,
. Bottoms of mud, sand, rock, shell or coral,
. Ship and submarine seaways free of fuel delivery system obstructions.
- Deliver fuel products with:
. Waves of up to 12 feet with surface currents of up to 5 knots, cross currents of up to 1.5 knots and tidal surges of 13 to 20 feet,
. Winds of up to 42 knots.
- Have maintenance requirements of no more than 20 man-hours per year and not require the system to be shut down for maintenance.
- Have repair times of no more than 24 hours per event and not require the system to be shut down for repair.
- Be capable of using existing refueling ships, that is, not require new
Department of Defense capital assets.
- Not interfere with the seaway of Navy ships and submarines.
- Be capable of delivering 1.8 MGPD (million gallons per day) fuel from a
distance of 25 miles or more.
- Require no more than one person for deployment of the system.
- Address technology risks of:
. Fuel piping materials that allow the new piping made from those materials to be capable of collapsing and fitting onto the storage reels of the current 8-mile piping system,
. Low abrasion, long life materials allowing piping made from those materials to last for a minimum of five years with no failures,
. Strong, lightweight materials for piping that allows the new collapsible piping to be handled by one person,
. Mooring the system and related piping at wide ranges of water depths corresponding to being twenty-five miles from shore.

PHASE I: By the end of Phase I, the contractor shall provide the Navy with one or more designs that meets the criteria described in "Description" above.

The contractor has the flexibility to propose design concepts that will show an integrated fuel delivery system. The proposed design will include calculations and/ or modeling that addresses the behavior of the pumps, power and pipes in operation at whatever depths the contractor chooses for operation. The proposed design concept calculations and modeling should also address the methods of securing or mooring the pipes and cables in a seaway and the contractor should also address the hydrodynamic affects of cross-currents in the water on the proposed piping and related system components. Other issues that should be addressed in Phase I are electrical system controls and power distribution concepts, especially for continued operation with one or more failures of pumps, power demands on the ship and/or shore power system (depending on what the contractor chooses for the design), pump power loads; electric power cabling and quick-connect electrical connectors as well as advanced piping materials that will collapse when empty but operate in the environment expected for the proposed concept. Trade-offs should be performed comparing designs that employ piping with integrated electrical cables versus separate piping and cabling.

PHASE II: In this Phase, the contractor will use the concept of Phase I to design a complete Over The Horizon Refueling (OTHR) System that meets the requirements of Phase I. This Phase will have the specifics of a detail design, that is, it will contain everything necessary to build the system, but not demonstrate the full system. However, critical components of the system can be "breadboard" tested if desired by the contractor. Otherwise, to validate the capability of the overall design to meet requirements stated in the "Description", computer modeling will be performed on key pieces of the system as well as the complete system.

PHASE III: For Phase III, the successful SBIR design will transition to the ONR FNC program with the end goal of meeting a fully functioning, Navy approved petroleum delivery system from a sea base to the shore twenty-five miles or more away. This fully functioning capability must be capable of being established in all parts of the world where no ports exist, or where inadequate ports exist. To that end, the contractor must propose for Phase III a transition that looks beyond the FNC process to an appropriate Navy acquisition program such as that of PMS 385 and also look to commercial applications for potential adoption of the design. This is required to keep the Navy from being the sole owner or sole user of the design, the developed technology (ies) and the resulting capabilities.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Quick assembly, maintenance free fuel transfer systems reduce time and manpower. Furthermore, they provide the potential for opening ports for short durations in parts of the world not currently used due to the enormous cost of the infrastructure required.

REFERENCES:
1. Department of the Army Field Manual (1998), Field Manual FM 10-67-1 OFFSHORE PETROLEUM DISCHARGE SYSTEM http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/Library/policy/army/fm/10-67-1/CHAPT5.HTML

2. Dubois, B. (1985). Simplex provides flexible pipe offshore petroleum delivery system (OPDS) to the U.S. Navy, Simplex Wire and Cable Company, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; IEEE OCEANS, Volume 17, Publication Date Nov 1985; Pages: 1244-1252.

3. Excell, J. (1987). Offshore Petroleum Discharge System (OPDS), IEEE OCEANS, Volume 19, Issued September 1987; Pages 587 � 589.

4. Schwartz, N. (2005). Joint Logistics Over-the Shore (JLOTS) http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/new pubs/ jp4 01 6.pdf

KEYWORDS: Sea Base; Fuel; Piping; Pumping; Maintenance; Sea-state

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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