In a press release issued Tuesday, Babcock announced it has signed a new contract with U.S. shipbuilder HII, expanding their strategic partnership to boost construction throughput for Virginia-class submarines at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS).
Under the agreement — the first Virginia-class outsourced contract awarded to Babcock for NNS-specific submarine work — the company will manufacture complex submarine assemblies at its Rosyth facility in Scotland for Block VI fast-attack submarines. The deal also aims to strengthen resilience across HII’s submarine supplier base by adding additional qualified large-structure manufacturers.
“This is a significant next step in delivering on our joint commitment to enhance both organizations’ capabilities,” said HII president and CEO Chris Kastner. “Leveraging Babcock’s expertise in the U.K. reinforces our supplier base, strengthens U.S. submarine production and supports the AUKUS partnership.”
Babcock CEO David Lockwood said the company’s advanced manufacturing capabilities, demonstrated through its missile-tube assembly work, position it to deliver further complex structures for the U.S. submarine fleet. “This expansion enables us to optimize our joint capabilities for the benefit of the wider AUKUS security partnership,” he said.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey said the partnership reflects growing international confidence in Scotland’s defence industry. “The UK is becoming a global leader in advanced marine and submarine engineering,” he said, adding that the government fully supports Scottish defence workers contributing to AUKUS programs.
Babcock and HII first established a strategic cooperation agreement in July 2023. Since then, the companies have collaborated across the U.S., U.K. and Australia, including the Australian Submarine Supplier Qualification (AUSSQ) program, which seeks to integrate Australian suppliers into the U.S. submarine industrial base and later into the U.K.’s Astute-class supply chain.
Earlier this year at DSEI, the two companies also signed an MoU combining HII’s REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles with Babcock’s submarine weapon-handling and launch systems, aiming to develop torpedo-tube launch and recovery capabilities for UUVs.
