Submarine Vertical Launch System (VLS) Laser Cladding Repair Project

The VLS weapon system on many 688 class submarines are experiencing pitting corrosion in and around the missile tube seal band area; this affects the weapons system availability during deployment and maintenance cost. The corrosion is particularly severe at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard where extensive use of brush electroplating is employed to restore the dimensional tolerances of the tubes. A brush electroplating process is used to repair both corrosion and handling damage. The process is manual, labor intensive, produces HAZMAT and is extremely costly.

In-Situ Pier-Side Repair of Submarine VLS Tubes

• Performanceorms an inspection routine to generate laser path profile
• Grinds out corrosion as defined by user
• Deposits new material using laser cladding process
• Re-finishes repaired surface using grinding process
• Performanceorms an inspection routine to validate repairs

Benefits: Quality & Quantity

• Decrease repair times from 40-50 hours to less than 16 hours
• Increase VLS system readiness / reliability
• Greatly reduce repair frequency
• Eliminates HAZMAT in repair process
• Personnel work environment improvement
• Te

MANTECH Project #S0994;CHICAGO (SSN-721) EOH starting October 2009 is the target availability for production application on a VLS boat at PHNSY&IMF.