US Navy DDG51

In 1986, MTSI was awarded a direct subcontract by Allison GMC to design and perform various project management functions in the prototype development, qualification testing and quantity production of a new Ships Service Generator Set for the U.S. Navy DDG51 (Arleigh Burke) class of guided missile destroyers. This new design would incorporate an Allison 501K34 gas turbine engine which is a higher rated version of the Allison 501K17 engine used in earlier naval vessel propulsion systems.

This Ships Service Gas Turbine Generator (SSGTG) set was designed to meet new and significantly revised specifications by the U.S. Navy and Bath Iron Works, the lead shipyard for this project. These requirements included lower airborne and structure borne noise limits, control safeguards against overload shutdown conditions, higher power levels and subsystems fully integrated and contained on the shock isolated gas turbine generator sub-base. In addition, MTSI strived to eliminate the use of custom designed aerospace-type system components so that proven high-production industrial components could be used in order to reduce the overall development cost as well as the lead times required for spare parts procurement over the service life of the equipment.

After design completion, the prototype unit successfully passed all qualification testing, including the severe MIL-S-901C floating barge shock test, with virtually no design changes being required. These rugged and quiet generator sets went into immediate quantity production following the successful testing stages and now reside in every U.S. Navy DDG51 class guided missile destroyer.