American Superconductor Corp. has received a follow-on contract for $1.6 million from the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) for the design and development of high temperature superconducting (HTS) motors for electric ship propulsion. The company expects to complete this contract within the next six months. The company's initial ONR contract, which was recently completed, was for a preliminary design of a 33,500-horsepower, AC synchronous, HTS ship propulsion motor. The follow-on contract is to complete the motor design and to start component fabrication and testing. The company expects to receive additional contracts from the U.S. Navy within the year that will lead to the manufacture and test of HTS motors on Navy ships. Initial sea trials of a sub-scale prototype 5,000-horsepower HTS motor are expected to commence within three years, coincident with the company's planned introduction of industrial HTS motors.

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