The US Navy has awarded Fairbanks Morse Defense a follow-on, sole-source contract worth $99.09 million to overhaul emergency diesel generators on six nuclear submarines. Naval Sea Systems Command placed the award. Work runs through 2030, with several overhauls a year.
It’s a maintenance contract, and that’s exactly why it matters. The Navy’s problem isn’t building new submarines on paper. It’s keeping the ones it has out of the shipyard.
Buying time on old boats
The work is part of a Navy plan to stretch the service lives of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and Los Angeles-class attack submarines by up to 14 years. New Columbia and Virginia class boats are coming more slowly than planned, so older hulls have to stay in service into the 2030s to keep the fleet from shrinking.
A nuclear submarine can’t deploy without a working emergency diesel generator. It’s the backup power when the reactor is down. Generator overhauls are routine, but routine work done slowly is one of the reasons US attack submarine availability has been poor for years. Boats wait at the pier for parts and labor.
Pit stops, not months in dock
Fairbanks Morse says it can shorten that wait. Its “Pit Stop” method pre-stages OEM parts before a boat arrives, so a maintenance period measured in months can drop to weeks. The company is also bringing in a robotic welding platform it says cuts manual welding time by up to two thirds.
Keith Haasl, the company’s president of services and technology, tied it directly to readiness: delivering critical components on time decides how many boats are available. The company, owned by Arcline Investment Management, says the same methods could be offered to allied navies. Australia, Canada and European navies are all spending more on undersea forces.
At $100 million over four years, this is a small contract by Navy standards. The test is whether the overhaul times actually fall. If they do, expect more awards like it, because the cheapest submarine the Navy can get is the one it already owns.
See also our latest defense contracts roundup.