American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC, Westborough, MA) announced that it has been selected by the US Navy's Office of Naval Research as prime contractor to lead a team in designing and building a prototype 36.5MW, high-temperature superconductor (HTS) propulsion motor. AMSC has teamed with Northrop Grumman to optimize the design, integration and testing of the HTS propulsion motor for integration into electric warships.
The full value of the contract, which will be incrementally funded over the next 37 months, is expected to be approximately $70 million in revenue for AMSC, the largest single contract in the company's history.
The motor is expected to be less than half the size and approximately one-third the weight of a conventional copper-based motor.
