Connectorless interfaces for shipboard weapons would improve supportability and maintainability by reducing requirements to constrained access areas and provide corrosion avoidance/reduction. Connectors are often damaged during weapon/store transportation and handling, easily corrode in the ship environment, and complicate maintenance tasks required during removal, repair, and installation. The SITE team proposes to apply commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies in connectorless interfaces to ship weapons systems. The feasibility of various innovations in connectorless technology, based upon environment and location of existing weapon connectors, existing and future signal/data transfer, and available ships power will be examined and a preferred approach determined. Innovative technologies determined to be high risk for transmission/receipt of data signals will be demonstrated in Phase I. Phase II will propose an integrated approach to applying connectorless interfaces to eliminate all or a majority of weapons connectors for provision of data signals and power.
