Ballistic reaction to faulty boomer welds prompts fixes
BWX Technologies is improving its welding and inspection processes to prevent a recurrence of the defects it found in several missile tubes it made for the US Navy’s future Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, according to company officials.
The Virginia-based company determined that some of its techniques for large, complex welds were inadequate and that ultrasonic inspections were missing some faulty welding, said Rex Geveden, BWXT’s president and CEO, who spoke 7 November on a third-quarter earnings conference call.
The company expects to finish repairing the existing defects by mid-2019. It has set aside $26.7 million to pay for those
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