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news release:
American Superconductor Awarded $10 Million
Contract Amendment by United States Navy Office of Naval Research
Westboroughh, MA, Jan. 9: American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:AMSC)
, a leading electricity solutions company, today announced that it has finalized
a contract amendment with the United States Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR).
Under the terms of the amendment, the ONR has approved a $10 million increase to
AMSC's contract to design and build a 36.5 megawatt (MW) high temperature
superconductor (HTS) propulsion motor for electric warships. The amendment adds
$10 million to AMSC's backlog, most of which is expected to be recognized as
revenue in the Company's fiscal year ending March 31, 2006. AMSC also expects an
additional contract modification to be completed by ONR within the next few
months, which will increase AMSC's backlog by an additional $7 million to $10
million. AMSC expects to deliver the 36.5MW motor to the Navy test facility in
Philadelphia in September 2006.
As prime contractor, AMSC leads the design, manufacture and initial testing of
the prototype 36.5MW HTS electric ship propulsion motor. The motor, which is
sized for the Navy's future DD(X) ships, benefits from the successes achieved by
AMSC in a recently completed ONR 5-MW HTS motor development and test program.
AMSC and Northrop Grumman have already successfully completed the first two
phases of the three-phase development process for the 36.5MW motor including
successful preliminary design and detailed design reviews.
HTS motors are ultra-compact, measuring as little as one-third the weight and
one-half the size of copper-based motors of the same power and torque rating,
which means Navy ships could carry more fuel and munitions and could have more
room for crew's quarters and weapons systems, and commercial ship owners and
operators could carry more passengers and cargo. In addition, HTS motors operate
with higher fuel efficiency and are expected to have lower maintenance costs
than their conventional copper counterparts. The substantial advantages offered
by HTS ship propulsion motors are expected to be provided at a production cost
equivalent to conventional motors of the same power and torque rating.
Key AMSC team members include Northrop Grumman Marine Systems and Northrop
Grumman Ship Systems. Northrop Grumman Marine Systems is responsible for the
development of system requirements and specifications, design and manufacture of
the motor drive and certain mechanical components and system integration and
test. Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, a prime contractor for Naval shipbuilding
programs, is developing a family of electric surface warships and assists in
overall ship system integration and is providing the ancillary hardware. For
more information, please see http://www.irconnect.com/noc/pages/news_releases.mhtml?d=26820.
The team assembled by AMSC also includes Electric Machinery Company, BMT Syntek
Technologies, Inc., and the Center for Advanced Power Systems at Florida State
University.
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