AMSC Wins a $75 Million Allied-Navy Contract for Its Superconducting Ship Protection System
American Superconductor (AMSC) has won its first Ship Protection System contract with an allied navy, a deal worth about $75 million. The system uses high-temperature superconductor coils to reduce a warship’s magnetic signature, and will go onto the Royal Canadian Navy’s new surface combatants. First delivery is expected in 2026.
The contract is AMSC’s first allied-navy Ship Protection win
On 12 June 2024, AMSC announced a contract of approximately $75 million with Irving Shipbuilding, the builder for the Royal Canadian Navy’s Canadian Surface Combatant program. It is the company’s first Ship Protection System order from an allied navy, following earlier deployment on the United States Navy’s San Antonio class amphibious ships. The scope covers hardware, engineering, and the integration and commissioning of the system, with first delivery expected in 2026.
The system uses superconductors to hide a ship’s magnetic signature
A steel warship distorts the Earth’s magnetic field, creating a signature that magnetic-influence naval mines are designed to detect. AMSC’s Ship Protection System is a degaussing system that counters this, and it uses high-temperature superconductor (HTS) coils to do it.
Because superconducting coils carry large currents with almost no loss, an HTS degaussing system can be lighter and draw less power than a conventional copper one, which matters aboard a ship where weight and electrical load are tightly budgeted. It is a different application from the grid cables and fusion magnets that dominate superconductor news, and it shows the technology earning its place in defence hardware.
A second market for AMSC alongside the grid
AMSC is better known for its grid stability systems, but the Ship Protection System gives it a distinct defence business built on the same underlying HTS advantage. This order extends its naval line from the United States to an allied fleet, one of the applications covered in where the tape goes.