DD 21 Gold Team selects Newport News team for Permanent Magnet Motor development

DD 21 Gold Team selects Newport News team
for Permanent Magnet Motor development

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi, June 14, 2000 – Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding, leader of the DD 21 Gold Team, has selected an industry team led by Newport News Shipbuilding, for the preliminary design of an electric drive propulsion system. The Gold Team will incorporate Newport News’ Permanent Magnet Motor (PMM) design into its Initial System Design proposal for the U.S. Navy’s next generation Land Attack Destroyer.

This selection results from the Gold Team’s independent, three-month evaluation of competing Permanent Magnet Motor proposals. "The Gold Team conducted a vigorous competition", said Jerry St. Pé, Chief Operating Officer of Litton Ship Systems, and Executive Vice President of Litton Industries (NYSE: LIT), "and in the final analysis the Newport News team concept provided us with the best value system for our Gold Team Ship baseline."

The Newport News team also includes Kaman Aerospace Corporation (KAC) and Power Technologies, Inc. (PTI).

The Newport News team’s proposed PMM design is based on a Brushless DC, Segmented Stator Motor concept, which is easier to manufacture and maintain than other technologies, and is scaleable to sizes required for main propulsion drives on DD 21. The final selection was accomplished by using a systems engineering process, as required by the DD 21 contract. Factors such as acquisition cost, life cycle cost, maintenance, manning, efficiency, risk, and many others were analyzed and compared between the two motors. The selection was made based on the Gold Team’s overall analysis of best value. Newport News will be prepared to deliver a prototype PMM in 2004, and the first production units in mid-2006.

The DD 21 Gold Team is a fully integrated team consisting of Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding, Raytheon, and The Boeing Company. This DD 21 Gold Team partnership enjoys the support of more than 30 geographic and technically diverse companies throughout the United States and Canada and several U.S. Navy Warfare Centers, who provide unique technical expertise. The Gold Team has successfully completed its Phase I Concept Design, and its first Phase II major review with the Navy’s DD 21 Program Office, PMS-500. The Gold Team is now fully engaged in completion of its Initial System Design, which will be submitted for evaluation in October 2000.

Litton Ship Systems (LSS), headquartered in Pascagoula, Mississippi, includes Litton Ingalls Shipbuilding and the Litton Ship Systems Full Service Center, both located in Pascagoula, as well as Litton Avondale Industries, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. LSS, which currently employs more than 17,000 shipbuilding professionals, primarily in Mississippi and Louisiana, is one of the nation's leading full service systems companies for the design, engineering, construction, and life cycle support of major surface ships for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and international navies, and for commercial vessels of all types. LSS has a firm business backlog exceeding $5.6 billion, in a variety of naval and commercial shipbuilding programs.

Litton Industries (NYSE: LIT) is also a leading information technology (IT) contractor to the U.S. government and provides specialized IT services to commercial and government customers in local and international jurisdictions. Litton provides defense and commercial electronics technology, components, and materials for customers worldwide. Headquartered in Woodland Hills, California, the company has more than 40,000 employees.