Friday, December 19, 2008

Navy floats $46.5M submarine deal to Electric Boat

By Brendan Lynch

General Dynamics Corp. said its Electric Boat subsidiary has won $46.5 million worth of additional work from the U.S. Navy related to the submarine USS North Carolina.

The amount comprises two modifications to previously awarded contracts, under which Groton, Conn.-based Electric Boat will perform maintenance, repairs, alterations, testing and other activities. During the busiest period of work under the contracts, which have a potential total value of $70 million, 500 Electric Boat employees will work on the submarine, the company said.

The USS North Carolina is the fourth ship of the Virginia class, the first Navy ship to be designed specifically for post-Cold War missions, General Dynamics said. Electric Boat and its partner, Northrop Grumman Corp.’s shipbuilding unit, have received contracts to produce 10 Virginia-class submarines.

Earlier this week, Electric Boat landed $16.8 million from the U.S. Navy for services related to the redesign of a submarine-based weapons launcher. Under that contract, Electric Boat is expected to provide engineering support and hardware on the common weapons launcher for use on the SSN 784 VPT submarine. Electric Boat will work on changes to the interfaces of the weapon control and payload tube control panels.

And last month, Electric Boat pulled in $286 million from the U.S. Navy for work on nuclear submarines. Under the contract, which could reach a total value of $1.8 billion, Electric Boat will provide design, engineering, material and logistics support, and research and development for submarine maintenance and modernization activities, training and cost reduction support.

General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), which employs about 83,500 workers, reported profits of $2.1 billion on $27.2 billion in revenue for 2007.