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The current fleet of Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines represents a sacrosanct leg of the United States’ nuclear triad, and by far its most survivable, according to Defense Secretary James Mattis. These submarines are being replaced by the Columbia class (CLB) of submarines, which will represent about 70 percent of the nation’s strategic deterrence by 2042. Concurrently with designing and building submarines to replace the Ohio class, the U.S. Navy is constructing Virginia-class submarines (VCS) at about two per year. Together, the submarine fleet and associated Sailors comprise a critical component of the nation’s security.
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division’s Advanced Propulsor Management Office (APMO) held an industry day in West Bethesda, Maryland, Aug. 16 welcoming partners in private industry to discuss how to work together to meet Carderock’s continuing mission of designing and manufacturing propulsors for new nuclear-powered submarines that carry the nation’s weapons in its defense.
“I view propulsors as a crown jewel within Carderock Division. It’s something that we have to do, that we will continue to do,” said Larry Tarasek, Carderock’s deputy technical director, at the start of the event. “I’m excited for this industry day. Today, you’ll hear about technical needs, processes and much more. I’m excited to have our industry partners here, because we need your help to help Carderock and the Navy continue to do the critical work we need to do with propulsors.”
Tarasek came to work at Carderock in the 1980s when President Ronald Reagan built up the Navy during the Cold War. From early in his career, Carderock Division’s leadership ingrained in him the importance of propulsor design and he proceeded to work on propulsors for the VCS carrying out this mission today, as well as what would become the CLB submarine program. The propulsor, which is government-furnished equipment, represents a myriad of technical capabilities and has stringent manufacturing tolerances. It is a unique component, according to Matt Marburger, an engineer with APMO.
Design of the VCS propulsor, which keeps ships of that class steaming today, started at Carderock in 1992 with the first unit delivered in 2002. Eighteen propulsors have been delivered on schedule to date. The VCS program is currently planning for a force structure goal of 48 submarines altogether, though Marburger said this may grow to 66 and possibly stress the defense industrial base. The Navy will also be simultaneously manufacturing the Columbia class in the coming decades. Carderock is currently exploring opportunities to improve margins on current VCS production schedules and needs help from industry partners to do that, according to Devin Stewart, APMO head at Carderock.
“We are responsible for developing the manufacturing strategy for building submarine propulsors and for overseeing the execution of that plan. Right now, we are developing a plan to do coordinated manufacturing of both Virginia and Columbia propulsors to support those programs, which is obviously a greater scope of manufacturing than we have been doing and is our challenge going forward here,” Stewart said. “Our office is seeking to expand our industrial base in order to deliver high-quality propulsors to the Navy that meet or exceed our technical requirements, on time or ahead of schedule, at a reduced cost. What we’re hoping to do today is get our potential industry partners the opportunity to see what submarine propulsors look like, how they’re built, what the processes are and what steps are required to build them in order to give you some insight into how you can potentially participate.”
Forty-four industry personnel representing 16 corporations were present for networking and discussion about the APMO’s mission, generalized and technical requirements for the VCS and CLB programs, and other topics, some of which were classified. As Carderock continues work on VCS and prepares for the fleet’s transition to CLB, Matt Sermon, deputy program manager for the CLB program with Naval Sea Systems Command’s Program Executive Office for Submarines which oversees the program, emphasized the importance of its success.
“We need to ensure that USS Columbia goes on patrol when it is scheduled to. Though that is years from now, it must happen. It must be there,” Sermon said. “If it does not, we do not meet U.S. Strategic Command’s requirements for the submarine force. We take it pretty seriously.”
Frank Jurado, a contracting officer’s representative at Carderock who helped organize the event, called the industry day a great success thanks to its face-to-face nature, which builds critical relationships in a way no other method can.
“You can’t email a handshake, and industry day solves that,” Jurado said. “Participants were exceptionally pleased with the collaborative event, having the opportunity to preview and discuss Navy technical requirements. This sets the tone for upcoming business forums that will dive into specific component design and manufacture activities.”
| Date Taken: | 08.19.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.12.2017 10:09 |
| Story ID: | 251381 |
| Location: | WEST BETHESDA, MD, US |
| Web Views: | 306 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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