Ultra-Compact Mobile Command Post Auxiliary Power Unit would offer integrated power generation for increasingly critical mobile, dispersible, and survivable combat posts

LiquidPiston, a developer of compact, efficient, heavy-fuel-capable rotary combustion engine technology and hybrid power systems, received notification of selection for a US Army SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) CATALYST Program Award to develop a Compact Mobile Command Post Auxiliary Power Unit (CMCP-APU). With the notification now received, LiquidPiston moves into a contracting phase that it expects to be completed later this year.

The Army SBIR CATALYST program was established in 2022 to unite the US Army, integrators, and small businesses to create innovative technologies, propelling concepts to final transition and commercialization. The CATALYST program provides $1 million as a base award, with up to an additional $7 million in SBIR funding via matching grants, to small businesses and industry partners that work with the US Army in support of modernization efforts.

The LiquidPiston award notification is for an CMCP-APU to support the US Army’s Mobile And Survivable Command Post (MASCP) initiative under the Army’s Command Post Integrated Infrastructure (CPI2) development program. MASCP aims to address critical vulnerabilities in today’s command posts, which take time to set up and take down, have rather fixed locations once set up, and are easily detectable by peer competitors.

Because military diesel generators are notoriously large and heavy, often requiring a trailer, CPI2 identified integrated power (IP) solutions for onboard power generation as a key enabling technology required for a viable mobile command post. Such IP systems would require power-dense auxiliary power units that are integrated with mobile command post vehicles to support communications, surveillance, and tactical support systems.

LiquidPiston’s SBIR CATALYST application addresses this need with a proposed ultra-compact, vehicle-based 10 kW portable electric generator platform powered by the company’s basketball-sized 25 hp heavy-fuel-capable X-Engine.

This SBIR CATALYST proposal represents an application-focused solution that builds on LiquidPiston’s recent US Department of Defense contracts, including a $9-million DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory award for a Compact Efficient Rotary Engine, announced in November 2022, an $8.3-million award from DEVCOM C5ISR Center for the development of a Light Weight High Efficiency Generator, announced in July 2023, and a $35-million US Air Force STRATFI SBIR contract for Hybrid Power System Technology.