The U.S. Navy has released a road map aimed at improving ship construction and repair yards, following delays in major shipbuilding programs, as announced by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space conference in NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. The Navy is analyzing the root causes of delays and plans to strengthen the industrial base to prevent them in the future.
Del Toro mentioned multiyear procurement contracts and advanced procurement funding as ways to get materials and components to shipyards early to address delays. He also emphasized the need for U.S. shipyards to invest in digital tools to improve efficiency and timeliness in shipbuilding, citing examples from South Korea and Japan.
The Navy’s science and research road map, released on April 9, aims to bring science and technology innovations to digitize public shipyards, leveraging practices from foreign shipyards. Rear Adm. Tom Anderson mentioned that the Program Executive Office Ships is strengthening relationships with Japanese and Korean yards to improve shipbuilding performance.
Despite challenges in recruiting and retaining workers at U.S.-based yards, the Navy is focused on improving shipbuilding processes to ensure timely and efficient delivery of platforms. This push for improvement is part of efforts to bolster the commercial shipbuilding and ship repair industries.
