BWX Technologies on Monday said it had secured a $76.2 million contract to produce more Common Missile Compartment (CMC) tube assemblies for next-generation U.S. ballistic missile submarines.
This is the third contract the BWXT Nuclear Operations Group has received from General Dynamics Electric Boat for the tube assemblies, following deals in November 2014 and March 2016, according to a BWXT press release. The contractor has received roughly 50 percent of all CMC tube assembly operations contracted so far. Work under the latest deal is slated to wrap up in 2021.
BWXT expects to hire 120 additional workers at its Mount Vernon, Ind., facility to carry out the contracts, the release says. It is also renovating a 180,000-square-foot manufacturing plant at the location.
The missile tubes will ultimately be deployed on U.S. Columbia-class and U.K. Dreadnought-class ballistic missile vessels.
The announcement came less than a week after the Defense Department said it had issued a $95.6 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to Electric Boat’s existing contract for production of 17 tactical missile tubes for the Columbia-class submarines. That work, in Rhode Island, should be finished in 2023.
“This is a joint U.S./United Kingdom Common Missile Compartment program and this modification includes foreign military sales to the United Kingdom,” the Pentagon said. “Work will be performed in Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and is expected to be completed by December 2023. United Kingdom foreign military sales funding in the amount of $22,957,933 will be obligated at the time of award. “
