General Atomics nets Columbia-class propulsor hardware contract
Columbia-class SSBN graphic. (Image: USN)
The 12-ship Columbia-class will replace the USN’s Ohio-class submarines.
On 10 May, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced it had been awarded a sole-source delivery task order from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division for structural hardware for the propulsor of the USN’s Columbia-class SSBN.
The task order is part of an IDIQ Propulsor Demonstration Hardware contract to develop components and hardware to be installed on future USN nuclear-powered boats.
GA-EMS said the hardware would be delivered in early 2023.
GA-EMS President Scott Forney: ‘This task order involves the precision machining of components to extremely tight tolerances and demanding material specifications, and the delivery of approximately ten thousand pounds of hardware that will affix the Propulsor Bearing Support Structure, already provided by GA-EMS, to the submarine.’
Forney added that the delivery would meet the schedule for installing critical components on the under-construction first-in-class Columbia-class submarine.
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