Leonardo DRS has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army to develop prototype vehicle integrated power kits (VIPKs) to support the growing need for easy-to-access, on-demand electrical power in the field. The kits will deliver scalable, exportable power directly from tactical vehicles to mission-critical systems—such as communications, electronic warfare, and counter-UAS technologies—without the need for external power sources.
The prototypes will be centered around the company’s advanced On-Board Vehicle Power (OBVP) solution, also known as TITAN, which generates up to 120kW of electrical power directly from the vehicle’s drivetrain. The exportable power enables the operation of high-demand systems including, mobile command and control, missile defense launchers, radar arrays, directed energy weapons, and expeditionary power microgrids—whether the vehicle is moving or stationary.
“This award highlights our continued commitment to delivering mission-enabling technologies that increase operational effectiveness for our military customers,” said Dennis Crumley, senior vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Land Electronics business unit. It developed the OBVP capability to scale the battlefield power infrastructure needed to meet the growing electrical power requirements driven by modern military operations that increasingly rely on power-hungry, advanced technologies.
Leonardo DRS has a strong track record of designing and delivering rugged, integrated power and propulsion systems across the U.S. military. Among these are an extensive lineup of permanent magnet machines including its permanent magnet axial series of motors and generators.
The permanent magnet machines are optimized for their application, whether it is electrical power generation or vehicle propulsion. Its engineering and manufacturing teams have designed and built a wide variety of machines for vehicle propulsion and power from tracked vehicles to wheel station motors, direct drive to speed increased generators.
The architectures are diverse, from axial gap (pancake) machines and radial (barrel) machines, conventional inside rotors and external or cup rotor machines. Slow speed and high speed, with and without bearings and seals, they take advantage of the PM machines’ naturally larger magnetic gap to integrate the machine with the driven equipment.
Delivering more power per pound with continuous high torque, even at a stall, the lightweight and compact the Permanent magnet Axial (PA) was built to last under the world’s most demanding applications. And since the PA rotor uses permanent magnets, it works equally well as a generator, making it the ideal choice for mobile generator sets, traction systems, cranes, elevators and lifts.
The PA series is ideal for applications requiring high precision and/or high torque, at a low weight and small size.
