Leonardo DRS announced that it has received a $45 million U.S. Navy Submarine Industrial Base (SIB) investment commitment through contracts with HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding. This investment is expected to expand the capabilities of DRS’s new 140,000-square-foot naval propulsion manufacturing facility, which is currently under construction in Goose Creek, SC. It includes capital equipment and other infrastructure enhancements.
The $45 million SIB investment will catalyze a 40,000-square-foot facility expansion to support capabilities critical to current and future U.S. Navy nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. This investment builds on several Navy-funded engineering contracts, such as Newport News Shipbuilding, and from General Dynamics Electric Boat previously issued to Leonardo DRS. These contracts and internal investments will strengthen the steam turbine system design, manufacture, integration, and test capabilities, including steam turbine generators.
The Leonardo DRS purpose-built facility is expected to open next year and will grow the company’s naval propulsion capability and streamline its support of the Columbia Class submarine program. And the company is currently producing the Columbia Class electric propulsion system components, including the main propulsion motor, the main propulsion drives, and main propulsion controller, and other components in addition to similar systems for international allied navies.
This facility will support electric drive for next-generation naval platforms and enables an expansion of DRS’s organic capability. It represents a significant expansion in the company’s ongoing collaboration with the U.S. Navy and enhances the nation’s submarine industrial base.
KEY QUOTE:
“This significant investment is the result of extensive collaboration between Leonardo DRS, the U.S. Navy, and our shipbuilding customers. It signifies the depth of our combined resolve to address some of the most pressing challenges facing our nation’s submarine industrial base with respect to capacity needed to deliver critical capability on-time and on-budget for the warfighter.”
– Jon Miller, senior vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Naval Power Systems business unit
