Army awards $1.6M to Wave Motion for Jet Gun technology – GeekWire
by Alan Boyle on
Everett, Wash.-based Wave Motion Launch Corp. has won a contract worth nearly $1.6 million from the U.S. Army to continue development of its Jet Gun technology.
Wave Motion’s Jet Gun concept involves firing a jet of supersonic gas to push a projectile to high speeds. Since there’s no physical structure or barrel surrounding the projectile, the system has the potential to be up to 100 times more compact than a rocket or conventional cannon of equivalent power. Also, the barrel-less launcher can handle projectiles in a variety of sizes — which gives the Jet Gun an advantage in logistically challenged environments where ammunition of a particular caliber isn’t available.
In a news release, Wave Motion says it will work with the Army’s DEVCOM Armaments Center to prototype and test a version of the Jet Gun that can be used in tactical indirect fire applications.
The contract, which is structured as a Direct to Phase II grant under the Army’s Small Business Innovative Research program, was awarded after Wave Motion was named a winner in the xTech Pacific competition.
Wave Motion is the brainchild of three University of Washington alumni — Finn van Donkelaar, James Penna and Casey Dunn. The four-year-old venture was one of the award winners in UW CoMotion’s I-Corps program in 2020. Van Donkelaar is the CEO and holds the patent for the Jet Gun system. Penna is the chief operating officer. Dunn served as chief financial officer but is now part of the product management team at Dedrone.
In an email, Penna told GeekWire that the Army funding will be used “to hire on more staff and expand our manufacturing and production capabilities in support of this new contract.”
In 2022, the startup won a $1.3 million award for Jet Gun development from the Office of Naval Research. “We are still finishing the contract we had with the Office of Naval Research and can report that we’ve had successful tests occur under that project,” Penna said.
“Overall, Wave Motion is developing a more advanced version of the Jet Gun that creates longer jets using solid entrained particles to extend the acceleration path for projectiles to potentially hundreds of times the length of the launcher system,” he said. “We plan on prototyping a version of this ‘solid jet gun’ for a proof-of-concept for space launch applications.”
In addition to military and space applications, the technology could be used for industrial applications such as mining and drilling.
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Everett, Wash.-based Wave Motion Launch Corp. has won a contract worth nearly $1.6 million from the U.S. Army to continue development of its Jet Gun technology.
Wave Motion’s Jet Gun concept involves firing a jet of supersonic gas to push a projectile to high speeds. Since there’s no physical structure or barrel surrounding the projectile, the system has the potential to be up to 100 times more compact than a rocket or conventional cannon of equivalent power. Also, the barrel-less launcher can handle projectiles in a variety of sizes — which gives the Jet Gun an advantage in logistically challenged environments where ammunition of a particular caliber isn’t available.
In a news release, Wave Motion says it will work with the Army’s DEVCOM Armaments Center to prototype and test a version of the Jet Gun that can be used in tactical indirect fire applications.
The contract, which is structured as a Direct to Phase II grant under the Army’s Small Business Innovative Research program, was awarded after Wave Motion was named a winner in the xTech Pacific competition.
Wave Motion is the brainchild of three University of Washington alumni — Finn van Donkelaar, James Penna and Casey Dunn. The four-year-old venture was one of the award winners in UW CoMotion’s I-Corps program in 2020. Van Donkelaar is the CEO and holds the patent for the Jet Gun system. Penna is the chief operating officer. Dunn served as chief financial officer but is now part of the product management team at Dedrone.
In an email, Penna told GeekWire that the Army funding will be used “to hire on more staff and expand our manufacturing and production capabilities in support of this new contract.”
In 2022, the startup won a $1.3 million award for Jet Gun development from the Office of Naval Research. “We are still finishing the contract we had with the Office of Naval Research and can report that we’ve had successful tests occur under that project,” Penna said.
“Overall, Wave Motion is developing a more advanced version of the Jet Gun that creates longer jets using solid entrained particles to extend the acceleration path for projectiles to potentially hundreds of times the length of the launcher system,” he said. “We plan on prototyping a version of this ‘solid jet gun’ for a proof-of-concept for space launch applications.”
In addition to military and space applications, the technology could be used for industrial applications such as mining and drilling.
Hear from AWS experts on all things cloud security in the generative AI era. Navigate security for generative AI, automated reasoning, cryptography, & more at AWS re:Inforce. Register to join us in person or watch our free livestream for the keynote & Innovation Talks.
Register now.
Learn more about underwritten and sponsored content on GeekWire.
Subscribe to GeekWire’s free newsletters to catch every headline
Have a scoop that you’d like GeekWire to cover? Let us know.
New Frontier Aerospace aims to zoom from hypersonic flight’s past into its future
How do you capture the ocean’s energy? Peek under the hood of a startup’s ‘anti-boat’ power device
Augmented-reality fighter pilot training system aces first flight tests, Boeing says
Fast-growing battery materials startup Group14 embroiled in trade secret dispute
Catch every headline in your inbox
This article was autogenerated from a news feed from CDO TIMES selected high quality news and research sources. There was no editorial review conducted beyond that by CDO TIMES staff. Need help with any of the topics in our articles? Schedule your free CDO TIMES Tech Navigator call today to stay ahead of the curve and gain insider advantages to propel your business!
