Groton shipyard Electric Boat has been awarded a $987 million contract modification from the Navy that will help the submarine builder with additional component development, yard infrastructure and boosting its supply chain companies as it ramps up production.
The company’s leadership says the award will facilitate the acquisition of long lead time material, as well as supporting construction costs.
“This contract modification funds important shipyard and supply chain work essential to achieving the necessary growth in output and supports our efforts to accelerate submarine delivery,” said Mark Rayha, president of General Dynamics Electric Boat.
The Submarine Industrial Base (SIB) effort aims to facilitate the Navy’s plan for serial production of submarines over the next decade. The aim is to build one Columbia-class and two Virginia-class boats each year over that period.
That will require a big increase in workload for the more than 16,000 suppliers across the country. SIB funding brings together industry partners to provide capacity building, training and workforce development.
The Department of Defense says this latest award aims to boost strategic sourcing, supplier development, and shipbuilder and supplier infrastructure.
Electric Boat has recently been buying up property in the area around its Groton yard.
In May it paid more than $5 million for two lots on Thames Street, which it says it will use for employee parking.
In January, the company made a $5.5 million purchase of a nearly 55-acre property in North Stonington, at 45 Frontage Road, where the company plans to construct a roughly 480,000-square-foot warehouse.
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