Baird Maritime reported October
24, 2024, at https://www.bairdmaritime.com/security/naval/naval-submersibles/us-submarine-production-to-be-scaled-back-due-to-delay-in-component-deliveries
“US submarine production to be scaled back due to delay in component
deliveries”
“The lead contractor of the US Navy's submarine program has
confirmed that there will be a decrease in the rate of production of the
vessels due to supply chain-related issues.
During a recent third quarter earnings call with investors, Phebe
Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics (GD), said that GD's Electric Boat division
would scale back its manufacture of Columbia-class and Virginia-class
nuclear-powered submarines to adjust to "late deliveries from major
component suppliers."
Novakovic remarked that it is "neither good for the boat over time
nor cost" to speed up the manufacture of only some of the sections of each
submarine only for the work to stop temporarily until the other essential
components are finally delivered.
Novakovic assured that the slowing down of submarine production would
not affect current delivery projections, which already take the anticipated
delays into account.
The scaling back of submarine production is the latest issue to be faced
by the US naval shipbuilding sector. Earlier this year, Huntington Ingalls
Industries (HII) found that workers at its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS)
division had not been applying the correct welding techniques on some of the submarines and aircraft
carriers under construction at its facilities in Virginia.
HII said it found no evidence that the faulty welds were done
with any malicious intent. However, the House Armed Services Committee has
called on the Department of the Navy and the Department of Defense to provide
answers and a plan for how both the Department of the Navy and NNS will protect
US Navy vessels against knowingly faulty work.”
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