US Navy News

[gtg947h]

Why the facepalm?

I have concerns about so much being placed in one basket, though of course with only three major tactical airframe OEMs left in defense it's not like you have a lot of options . Boeing's track record as of late has me concerned too--see KC-46, T-7, and MQ-25--whereas N-G seems to be executing well on the B-21 program . But like the rest of us I'm only privy to what's in the public domain.

Interestingly, speculation says the two aircraft are likely highly related (in the F-4 style "USAF buys a USN airframe" sense). More eggs in the basket, but at least (maybe?) less work to put them there.


My almost-a-year working at such a company does not instill confidence either; it makes me want to ensure the primary award criteria are "lowest ratio of project engineering and program management to design and test engineering" and "smallest fraction of design engineering time spent on non-technical administrative work".

[Nightwatch2]

Why the facepalm?

I have concerns about so much being placed in one basket, though of course with only three major tactical airframe OEMs left in defense it's not like you have a lot of options . Boeing's track record as of late has me concerned too--see KC-46, T-7, and MQ-25--whereas N-G seems to be executing well on the B-21 program . But like the rest of us I'm only privy to what's in the public domain.

Interestingly, speculation says the two aircraft are likely highly related (in the F-4 style "USAF buys a USN airframe" sense). More eggs in the basket, but at least (maybe?) less work to put them there.


My almost-a-year working at such a company does not instill confidence either; it makes me want to ensure the primary award criteria are "lowest ratio of project engineering and program management to design and test engineering" and "smallest fraction of design engineering time spent on non-technical administrative work".

Thanks

Understand. The track record lately has been concerning

[Paul Nuttall]

Posted on the Secret Projects website

Its a fairly long article so will only post the summary.

Apparently work has stopped, at the Fincantieri/Marinette-Marine shipyard, on the two Constellation class frigates.

Fincantieri/M-M has sent an offer to the USN to build FREMM EVOs, at the shipyard.

https://www.twz.com/sea/shipbuilder-beh ... igate-game


This would eliminate the need to build the first couple overseas, while acquiring a domestic shipyard to supply a 'mature' design as quickly as possible.

[Rocket J Squrriel]

How hard would it be to keep NAVSEA away from it?

[Nightwatch2]

How hard would it be to keep NAVSEA away from it?

If only

I don’t think we could produce a rowboat without NAVSEA screwing it up

[jemhouston]

How hard would it be to keep NAVSEA away from it?

If only

I don’t think we could produce a rowboat without NAVSEA screwing it up

Without going full Poohbah, what would it take to unscrew NAVSEA?

Or is full Poohbah needed?

[kdahm]

How hard would it be to keep NAVSEA away from it?

If only

I don’t think we could produce a rowboat without NAVSEA screwing it up

Without going full Poohbah, what would it take to unscrew NAVSEA?

Or is full Poohbah needed?

Full Poohbah is insufficient to patch over NAVSEA. It's well past time to go Full Rickover.

[Johnnie Lyle]

If only

I don’t think we could produce a rowboat without NAVSEA screwing it up

Without going full Poohbah, what would it take to unscrew NAVSEA?

Or is full Poohbah needed?

Full Poohbah is insufficient to patch over NAVSEA. It's well past time to go Full Rickover.

No. Ernie King.

[jemhouston]

NAVSEA is located at the Navy Yard, so we won't take out any other needed offices in the Pentagon.

[Paul Nuttall]

https://interestingengineering.com/mili ... e-shipyard

Trump announces largest US submarine shipyard since WWII, spanning 2M square feet

Anduril’s Arsenal-2 will build Virginia-class submarine components and large assemblies from 2030.

Untitled-Design-2026-10-07T025818.jpeg

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a $6.6 billion U.S. submarine manufacturing push centered on a new 2-million-square-foot shipyard in Maryland that will produce components and large assemblies for Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines.

Defense technology company Anduril Industries will invest $3.7 billion of private capital in the Arsenal-2 shipyard at Sparrows Point near Baltimore. Separately, the U.S. Navy has awarded Anduril a contract worth up to $2.9 billion, with payments tied to production results.

Trump, speaking at the site Tuesday, called Arsenal-2 the largest new U.S. shipyard since World War II. He said the facility would support production of next-generation submarines, including autonomous submarines, as well as torpedo tubes and components for Virginia-class attack submarines.

The project is expected to create 3,100 direct jobs and support more than 11,000 additional jobs. Initial operations are scheduled to begin in 2030, with production increasing afterward, according to Anduril.


Software runs shipyard production

Arsenal-2 will cover more than 2 million square feet, roughly the area of 40 football fields, across a 187-acre site. It will include high-bay assembly halls, fabrication areas, reconfigurable production lines, and an existing 1,200-foot graving dock for handling large maritime structures.

Anduril said the facility will manufacture complex components and large assemblies for Virginia-class submarines before sending them to General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding for final assembly.


The additional production source is intended to allow more submarine work to take place simultaneously rather than concentrating manufacturing at the Navy’s existing submarine builders.

Anduril plans to manage the facility through ArsenalOS, its industrial software platform. The system will connect fabrication, material movement, assembly, inspections, and documentation while providing workers and managers with real-time information about production.

Digital work instructions, sensors, embedded quality controls and automation will also support welders, electricians, pipefitters, inspectors and other workers, according to the company.


California plant starts earlier

Before the Maryland shipyard opens, Anduril plans to begin manufacturing Virginia-class components at a new 160,000-square-foot facility in Orange County, California.

The California plant will give the company about a two-year head start to test manufacturing methods, train workers, and establish production and quality-control systems. It will make test hardware and maritime components, including torpedo tubes.

Anduril said the lessons from that facility will then be transferred to Arsenal-2 as the Maryland operation scales.

Virginia-class submarines are nuclear-powered attack submarines used for missions including anti-submarine warfare, surveillance, and land strikes. They can travel at speeds exceeding 25 knots.

The new capacity comes as the Navy seeks to increase submarine production while also meeting U.S. commitments under the AUKUS security partnership. Anduril said closing the gap between current production and Navy requirements will require additional suppliers, infrastructure and manufacturing capacity.

Arsenal-2 will be built at Sparrows Point, once home to a major steelmaking and shipbuilding complex. Maryland officials said the project is expected to generate more than $2 billion in annual economic output, including about $312 million in wages each year.

[PLB]

It's good to see some out side companies, like Aundril and Saronic, getting into the defence supply business. I feel we've been held hostage by the legacy suppliers for too long and really are in s tight spot with regards to being able to afford our defence. A little competition never hurt.

Paul

[jemhouston]

I'm worried about the location being in Maryland. There is also the problem where they'll get the workers.

[PLB]

Yeah qualified workers could be a bottle neck. On the other hand, 2030 is a ways off and there is a push to get folks into the trades.

Paul

[jemhouston]

Yeah qualified workers could be a bottle neck. On the other hand, 2030 is a ways off and there is a push to get folks into the trades.

Paul

I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if a security clearance is needed.

[PLB]

Anduril says that Sparrows Point sit between 2 customers, 300 miles to Electric Boat in Connecticut and 200 miles to Newport News.

Looking on Google Maps there's an old graving dock that might could be refurbished and possibly a couple of slipways. I don't know if either would be of any use to them for what they seem to be planning to do.

Also this from 4 hours ago (9pm cdt)
"Arsenal-2 will take time to build, but there's no time to wait.

While construction of Arsenal-2 moves forward, we're already producing Virginia-class test assets and critical maritime components in a 160,000-square-foot Proto-factory right here in Orange County, California."

I get the impression this is more to prove and sharpen their production processes ahead of Arsenal 2 and train the workforce, than to produce saleable product.

One could wish for a friendlier state, I guess, but this is the East coast we are talking about here.

Paul

[Paul Nuttall]

https://www.navylookout.com/babcock-pit ... k7XEntNoDQ

Babcock is preparing to offer its Arrowhead 140 frigate, the design behind the Royal Navy’s Type 31, to the US Navy as Washington looks abroad for a proven escort it can build quickly. Any deal would probably see the majority of ships built in American yards, with the UK supplying design and engineering expertise.

A report in the Telegraph has confirmed our prevous speculation that Babcock might offer Arrowhead 140/Type 31 to the US. Initial meetings have been held with Pentagon officials, pending the formal submission of an expression of interest this month. Sir Nick Hine, head of Babcock’s marine business and a former Second Sea Lord, said it would be “insane” not to respond.

The bid is expected to be joint with Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), America’s largest military shipbuilder, and could involve transferring the intellectual property so American workers can build the Arrowhead 140 in the US. The US wants a small-to-medium general-purpose frigate that can escort convoys or operate independently, with ASW and anti-ship capability. Priority will go to a mature design that can be produced rapidly and in numbers.

Despite the absence of Type 31 from early reports of the designs under study, limited UK construction capacity would shape any offer. The opportunity stems from a presidential memorandum issued on 13 August that uses a national security waiver to open US Navy procurement to allied designs and, in limited cases, overseas construction. The Navy’s assessment is due by 12 November. Japan’s upgraded Mogami, South Korea’s Chungnam and Turkey’s Istanbul class have all been reported as candidates, with Hanwha’s ownership of the Philadelphia Shipyard widely seen as giving the Korean option an early edge.

The idea of a British firm building warships for the US Navy needs qualification. The memorandum follows the ‘Finland model’ in which no more than two ships may be built abroad, and only by suppliers investing in American shipbuilding, with the rest coming from US yards. Babcock has no shipyard in the US and Rosyth is fully committed to the RN’s ships for now, although is looking for export orders to provide sustained work in the long run. The most likely offer would be a design licence and technology transfer to a US yard, with Babcock acting as design authority and providing engineering support.

The Arrowhead 140 design has already been exported to Indonesia and Poland, with Babcock as design provider and technology partner. The same model is being pitched to Chile, where Hine visited in early October to propose local construction with the state yard ASMAR. Rosyth remains the only place Babcock itself is building the ships.

Babcock is already a trusted partner with the US submarine industrial base. Since 2014, its Rosyth and Bristol sites have been manufacturing tactical missile tube assemblies for General Dynamics Electric Boat as part of the Common Missile Compartment shared by the Royal Navy’s Dreadnought class and the US Navy’s Columbia class ballistic missile submarines. The work required major investment in advanced welding, quality assurance and digital manufacturing and supports around 200 specialist jobs.

The relationship with HII has deepened in parallel. The two companies signed a strategic agreement in 2023 covering nuclear decommissioning and construction 5 to combine HII’s REMUS uncrewed underwater vehicles with Babcock’s submarine weapon handling and launch systems. In December 2025, HII awarded Babcock its first outsourced contract for Newport News Virginia class work, authorising Rosyth to build complex assemblies for Block VI attack submarines. It is a small initial engineering contract for now, but it is a rare example of a foreign yard being trusted with structural work on American nuclear submarines, and it means Babcock now supplies both US submarine builders.

Together, Babcock and HII have also developed ARMOR Force (Autonomous and Remote, Maritime Operational Response). In this hybrid fleet concept, a Type 31 acts as the Common Command Vessel (CCV) directing a network of large uncrewed surface vessels from HII’s ROMULUS family.

Adding further complexity to the industrial relationships, HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding is already the lead yard for FF(X), the US Navy’s patrol frigate derived from the Legend-class cutter, and HII also partners with HD Hyundai, one of the principal designers of the rival Chungnam class.

With the Mogami and Chungnam-class ships already at sea and the RN’s slow delivery schedule, Type 31 faces tough competition. A big attraction of Type 31 is its size, which would allow a broader choice of weapons and sensors, as well as better seakeeping than the Japanese or South Korean options.

Despite the USN’s increasingly desperate need for more surface combatants after the failure of the Constellation class, the whole effort also faces good old-fashioned ‘pork barrel’ Congressional opposition, with moves in the House to block funding for foreign-built combatants. Success, even purely as design licensor, would still be a major endorsement for an export campaign that already includes a head-to-head contest with the upgraded Mogami in New Zealand, the Chilean pitch and cooperation with Danish industry on a future air defence frigate. It would also support British design and engineering jobs, even if construction is all-American.

[clancyphile]

Marinette is building uparmed versions of the Freedom-class LCS for the Saudis. If I were Hegseth, I'd be ordering more of those for the USN.