New Technology Cloaks Ship's Magnetic Signature

 

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD) Ship Engineering Station in Philadelphia have developed a high temperature superconducting (HTS) degaussing coil that utilizes superconducting ceramic materials that neutralize the magnetic signature of a ship. On April 1, the USS Higgins, equipped with the new technology, completed a pass over the U.S. Navy Magnetic Silencing Range in San Diego, CA. Essentially, future degaussing coil systems can act as cloaking devices eliminating the magnetic signature of a ship and foiling undersea mines’ capability to detect and detonate when a large magnetic field comes within close proximity.

Naval mine strikes have been the root cause of 77 percent of U.S. Navy ship casualties since 1950. The new HTS coils are cooled by a cryogenic compressor to nearly minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit and can be operated at current densities that are a factor of 100 to 200 times higher than that of room temperature conductors, thus allowing the degaussing loop to be generated at a fraction of the weight of the room-temperature legacy copper wire systems currently in use. Find more details on the ONR website.

---