New shipbuilding entrants secure US navy work commitments

Hanwha Philly Shipyard, shown here, received a US Navy shipbuilding subcontract. (Hanwha Defense USA)

A series of deals have begun committing naval work to new players in the United States, in line with the aspirations of US Navy (USN) officials who have noted publicly over the past year their desire to create greater shipbuilding capacity by opening up contracting to companies beyond traditional domestic naval yards.

The manufacturer Hadrian officially opened its Factory 4 in Cherokee, Alabama, on 20 March. Navy Secretary John Phelan noted at the opening that the facility will support the Virginia-class attack submarine (SSN) and Columbia-class strategic-missile submarine (SSBN) programmes. “This factory is the first of three facilities designed to address the most critical bottlenecks in the maritime industrial base,” Phelan said, adding, “this is also a different kind of partnership ... providing the Department of the Navy with downside protection and upside participation. More than USD1.5 billion in capital from Hadrian comes in first. The Department of the Navy follows with a commitment of USD900 million to scale up the factory.”

The USN also awarded Vard Marine US of Houston, Texas, a contract in late March to help define the service's future logistics fleet, advancing early design work on the Next Generation Logistics Ship (NGLS), commonly known as the light replenishment oiler (T-AOL).

Vard Marine US in turn awarded Hanwha Defense USA and Hanwha Philly Shipyard of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a subcontract to partner on conducting a market survey and perform a concept design and refinement for the new NGLS platform, Hanwha Defense USA confirmed on 30 March.

Hanwha Defense USA will also support “manufacturability,” commercial construction practices, and the evaluation of production costs, the company said in a 30 March release.