![]() ![]() “Among other results, this investment has helped support nearly 200 suppliers in 31 states that has increased capacity 10% to 50% at key suppliers,” the congressman wrote. ![]() That’s expected to further pressure the submarine construction sector. will see the former acquire nuclear-powered submarines. The agreement between Australia, the U.K. He wrote a memo to his congressional colleagues in July, outlining how past investments helped and encouraged them to continue the spending to ensure the industrial base can deliver submarines on time during the 1+2 production cadence, and that it has excess capacity to support the AUKUS pact. ‘One way or another’Ĭourtney says the submarine-industrial base investments to date are paying dividends. In total, Jones said, the Navy and the submarine-industrial base are executing 79 projects in the current fiscal year aimed at boosting the capability, capacity and quality of work in the sub-tier supply chain, in support of the so-called 1+2 production rate of Columbia and Virginia submarines. The fourth effort is workforce development, as companies in the submarine-industrial base of all sizes and in all locations struggle to recruit and retain the workers they need.Īnd the fifth is investing in new manufacturing technologies that can make work processes more efficient, such as automated welding, robotics and additive manufacturing. Navy spending planned for FY24 will formalize Austal’s work on these modules, creating a dedicated submarine fabrication facility there, Jones said. Joe Courtney, a Democrat whose Connecticut district includes the Electric Boat yard in Groton, told Defense News. Jones said the Navy is looking to move at least 5 million production hours a year in large-scale steel fabrication, outfitting and other heavy manufacturing work to other locations, allowing the shipyards to focus on outfitting, final assembly and testing.Īlready, the Austal USA shipyard in Alabama has begun building steel modules for the Virginia submarine program, becoming a “strategic supply chain company … that will take millions of man hours out of the strain in the system” at Electric Boat, Rep. The third effort, strategic outsourcing, appears to be taking some of this growing work away from the two shipyards. The Navy is also pitching in with support for the facilities and equipment needed to keep up with growing demand. For example, Newport News Shipbuilding spokesman Todd Corillo told Defense News the yard is in the midst of making $1.9 billion in capital investments that started in 2016 and will run through 2025, which include facilities to accelerate submarine production. The shipyards are making their own investments. The Virginia-class submarine Iowa sits in a graving dock at the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn., in August 2023. (Though Electric Boat is the prime contractor for both submarine programs, it has a teaming relationship with Newport News Shipbuilding where both yards build certain portions of each submarine and share in the final assembly and testing responsibilities.) The second area is shipyard infrastructure, to ensure General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding can ramp up their production to a rate that will, in FY26, hit its highest rate by tonnage since World War II: one Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine and two Virginia-class attack submarines with the Virginia Payload Module insert each year, dubbed a 1+2 production rate. ![]() In this fiscal year, the Navy will infuse about $70 million into the raw material market, an area where material must be delivered on time to keep submarine construction on schedule, and which has been “especially impacted by market fluctuations and post-pandemic realities,” Jones said. It has since seen a 100% increase in capacity to process large forgings, Jones said, and reduced its costs by 30%. The company, part of the castings and forgings market that has struggled to keep up with demand, used the money to buy more production equipment. For example, Scot Forge received more than $20 million as part of this effort.
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