Advanced Structural Development for Naval Hovercraft Ramps Navy SBIR FY2011.2 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2011.2 Topic No.: N112-142 Topic Title: Advanced Structural Development for Naval Hovercraft Ramps Proposal No.: N112-142-0760 Firm: C. Raymond Hunt Associates, Inc. 5 Dover Street New Bedford, Massachusetts 02740 Contact: Winn Willard Phone: (508) 717-0600 Web Site: www.huntdesigns.com Abstract: C. Raymond Hunt Associates, Inc. and our team partner KaZaK Composites propose to address the redesign of LCAC bow and stern ramps by developing a conformable toughened composite structure. Several key requirements for bow and stern ramps are to reduce weight, reduce corrosion, mimimize ship impact, increase durability, and equal or exceed current structural requirements. A stiff toughened composite structure will meet the load requirements and eliminate corrosion. With the proper laminate schedule it will also provide added ramp support during loading/unloading. In addition the redesigned ramps must not impact LCAC operations or require costly hovercraft modifications. Our team specializes in the development of automated manufacturing technology for advanced composite structures, with particular emphasis on both VARTM and pultrusion. We will develop designs using components whose 3 dimensional shape requires Hunt's VARTM expertise and 2 dimensional shapes utilizing KaZaK's unique capability to pultrude low cost damage resistant composite structures, a technology developed to reduce impact damage related maintenance for Navy landing craft. A system optimized for pultrusion production will reduce the cost of the system components to an absolute minimum, approaching raw material cost, if sufficient quantities of similar items are purchased. Benefits: Our team plans to follow several parallel paths for commercialization of bow and stern ramps for the LCAC and the technology for its production that will be developed in this SBIR program. Direct Commercial Sales to the Navy and Shipbuilders of LCAC, RORO, and Navy supply ships (LPD/TAKE). If Phase II is successful, a likely progression of events would include a Phase III commercial purchase of a quantity of our teams bow and stern ramps by the Navy, first for sea trials and later for fleet service. Our team will explore the permissibility of foreign commercial sales, and if appropriate, seek applications with foreign fleets as well. The production technology planned for making toughened composite ramps can be applied to the fabrication of more generic commercial applications. These would range from transoceanic commercial RORO carriers all the way down to local ferry companies looking to save annual fuel costs or to increase payload. Return