Shipbuilder Austal USA has started the construction of a new manufacturing facility for submarine modules (MMF3).
This new building, scheduled to be fully operational in late 2026, is expected to increase Austal USA’s capacity to support the U.S. Navy Submarine Industrial Base (SIB).
The new building will provide 369,600 square feet of indoor manufacturing space purpose-built to manufacture submarine modules, according to Austal.
The production from this building will support the U.S. Navy’s goal of delivering one Columbia-class and two Virginia-class submarines annually. It will include a material storage area, machine shop, assembly area, and waterfront improvements to support the shipment of the completed modules via barge.
This project, combined with the recent groundbreaking for another manufacturing building, represents over $750M in expansion of Austal USA’s Mobile facility, the company noted.
In 2023, Austal USA’s contracts were supported by 259 Alabama-based suppliers accounting for over $115 million of business. This includes 185 small businesses, over 50 percent of the total spend.
“Austal USA is committed to supporting national security initiatives like the Navy’s Virginia and Columbia-class submarine programs, evidenced by our aggressive infrastructure and workforce expansion efforts,” commented Austal USA President Michelle Kruger .
In July Austal USA started construction on a new assembly building to enable the erection of large steel modules for Navy and Coast Guard ships, including the offshore patrol cutter (OPC) and TAGOS-25 programs.
“The shiplift will provide a safe and reliable system to launch ships as they are completed in the assembly buildings and will also enable bringing ships back on the land-side facility for repair and maintenance,” Austal emphasized.
Upon completion of these buildings, Austal USA’ s Mobile, Ala. ship manufacturing facility will include a 117,000 square-foot steel panel line, two module manufacturing facilities totaling over one million square feet of covered manufacturing space optimized for serial production, and seven assembly bays providing over 400,000 square feet of indoor erection space.