The Department of Defense’s Office of Industrial Base Policy (IBP), through its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) office, awarded a $20 million contract to Austal USA (AUSA), and their subsidiary Austal USA Advanced Technologies, to bolster the U.S. Navy shipbuilding industrial base. The joint project, led by MCEIP’s Innovation Capability and Modernization (ICAM) office, adds new advanced manufacturing capabilities to the AUSA shipyard in Mobile, Alabama and the AUSA Advanced Technologies facility in Charlottesville, Virginia. Together the team will introduce agile industrial capacities into the submarine industrial base (SIB) by expanding the available throughput for parts replacements, as well as serial production of steel module structures aboard the national defense-imperative Columbia and Virginia class submarines.
AUSA will establish a metal cutting and forming capability to support submarine module construction, and an additive manufacturing (AM) capability for adding serialized production capacity to conventional manufacturing supply chains for hard-to-source parts such as large forgings and castings. ElectraWatch, partnering with the ICAM-funded Advanced Training in Defense Manufacturing (ATDM) initiative in Danville, Virginia, will be hiring graduates from ATDM’s additive manufacturing training track.
The ATDM Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence, within the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Center for Manufacturing Advancement, on the Danville Institute for Advanced Learning and Research campus, provides an accelerated, focused training program to deliver highly trained, skilled, and certified manufacturing talent motivated to join the SIB in significant numbers. By partnering with ATDM, AUSA will aviod localized, one-off approaches and attempts to close national industrial skills gaps.
Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale, ASD(IBP) stated, “This award is a vital addition to DoD’s workforce development and directly supports the Biden Administration’s initiatives to strengthen America’s supply chains as outlined in Executive Order 14017, America’s Supply Chains. The award of this contract is another step by the DoD towards supporting and enhancing America’s defense industrial base workforce and supply chains.”
This investment funds industrial improvements designed, constructed, and operated by AUSA in Mobile and augments existing AM capacity at the AUSA Advanced Technology facilities in Charlottesville where new equipment will be installed. Meanwhile, the new and improved Gulf Coast facilities will allow AUSA to continue their support for America’s Navy as the Independence Class Littoral Combat Ship new construction efforts come to an end. This award will provide a predictable and steady workload to the AUSA shipyard and allow the Navy to continue to leverage an experienced, skilled workforce in Mobile. AUSA management will expand manning by a further 1,000 employees to meet SIB demand – an increase by one-third.
“Austal USA is excited to demonstrate our extensive capability in providing additive manufacturing solutions to the U.S. Navy’s submarine industrial base,” commented Austal USA President Rusty Murdaugh. “Our highly talented team at Austal USA Advanced Technologies, located in Charlottesville, Virginia, is looking forward to exercising the resources provided by this award to guarantee future success for the Navy’s Virginia and Columbia class submarine fleets.”
For additional information on MCEIP and other ICAM projects, please email osd.pentagon.ousd-a-s.mbx.ibas@mail.mil