DLBA Naval Architects Selected to Support DARPA NOMARS

The DLBA Division of Gibbs & Cox is excited to announce that we will be supporting DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO) on their revolutionary No Manning Required, Ship (NOMARS) Program. The program will design, build, and field test an unmanned surface ship that can operate autonomously for long durations at sea with no human interventions or underway maintenance. Our team was selected by DARPA to explore the trade space for clean-sheet vessel designs developed without any provision for crew on board. The intent of this effort is to create a paradigm shift in the design of marine surface vehicles as we transition from manned to unmanned platforms, while leveraging newly established and developmental technologies to increase capability, increase reliability, and reduce total ownership cost.

NOMARS is a two-phased program, with this first phase centered on trade space exploration, development of a clean-sheet concept design, and maturation of concept into a preliminary design. We have assembled a team of subject matter experts and industry leaders to explore the many research areas of this program, some of which are: hull, mechanical and electrical systems; self-adaptive health monitoring and predictive analytics; power generation, distribution, and energy storage; as well as advanced depot based maintenance concepts. We will assess the interdependencies of the technical domains and evaluate each domain against overarching variables of cost, endurance, reliability, and manufacturability to ensure that our vessel design is optimized in all aspects of performance, production, and maintainability.

The views, opinions, and/or findings expressed are those of the author(s) and should not be interpreted as representing the official views or policies of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Gibbs & Cox Establishes Houston Office

ARLINGTON, Va. – Gibbs & Cox, Inc., a global leader in naval architecture and marine engineering, is pleased to announce the expansion of services into Houston, Texas. The office will be led by Mr. Todd Carrico, a leading innovator in naval and offshore marine engineering technologies.

The vision of the Houston Office is threefold; to add substantial value to the company by generating revenue in non-naval markets, developing and selling new products and/or services to non-traditional clients, and contributing to the successful completion of existing programs.

The timing for opening an office in Houston is fortuitous. Maritime, Offshore Oil and Gas, and Naval sectors are becoming increasingly interrelated through the use of new technologies. While Houston has long been associated with the Offshore Oil and Gas industry, it has become ever more diverse in the past decade. This has resulted in a hot-bed of technology development, open innovation, collaboration possibilities across industries, and incubation of new ideas. Gibbs & Cox plans on cultivating these attributes with our expansion into emerging maritime markets. Over the last several months, we have hired a number of staff from the Houston area and expect this trend to continue as we continue to grow with our recent contract wins.

Todd Carrico joins us as Director of the Houston office from SBM Offshore, where he served as the Technology and Business Development Manager, focusing on early project development for the SBM Offshore Houston Regional Center. Prior to SBM Offshore, Todd was the Seakeeping Division Model Experimentation Branch Head at NSWC Carderock, where he was responsible for complex model test programs, including DDG 1000 and the Orion Recovery test programs. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Ocean Engineering from the University of Rhode Island. Additionally, he holds a Master of Science in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of New Orleans. Todd is active in the Texas Chapter of SNAME as well as many of the international engineering conferences based in the greater Houston area.

In anticipation of a continued presence in Houston, Gibbs & Cox intends on opening a physical location once the COVID-19 pandemic recovery is underway. In the near term, the G&C office will continue to be virtual, with a growing number of staff working from home in Houston. For further details and information, please contact Cody Prince, cprince@gibbscox.com.