Electric Boat has awarded Austal USA, a subsidiary of an Australian shipbuilder, a $450 million contract to expand work on submarine modules at its Mobile, Ala., shipyard, defense industry publications have reported.

The outsourcing will help EB and its partners in the submarine industrial base meet the U.S. Navy’s goal of delivering two Virginia-class and one Columbia-class submarines annually, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, said of the move.

Under the contract, Austal will design, build, and outfit a 369,600-square-foot production facility on 8.5 acres. Expected to be completed in 2026, it will support 1,000 new jobs and provide capability to fabricate, outfit, and transport submarine components, Austal announced.

“This comes with the blessing of EB and HII,” Courtney said, referring to Huntington Ingalls Industries, the defense contractor that builds Virginia-class submarines at its Newport News, Va., yard in a teaming arrangement with EB.

“This will incorporate a third yard to provide some of the bigger pieces” now fashioned at EB’s Quonset Point facility in Rhode Island, he said.

Mike France, Courtney’s Republican opponent in the November election, termed the EB-Austal contract “a good thing” that will take “take some stress off the construction side” of submarine production.

While EB declined to discuss specifics of the contract, a company spokesman said, “This is an opportunity to expand submarine-building capabilities.”

The deal will have no impact on current EB jobs or the future demand for hiring at EB, the spokesman said.

EB employs about 23,000 workers at its facilities in Groton and Quonset Point. It said earlier this year that it planned to hire 5,000 people in 2024.

News of the EB-Austal contract came on the heels of the Navy’s announcement last week of a collaboration with a private investment fund to expand the Alabama shipyard. The Navy said the United Submarine Alliance Qualified Opportunity Fund LP, or USA Fund, acquired the 355-acre shipyard “where it will prioritize U.S. Navy maritime infrastructure investments and sustainment activities with the goal of developing an additional 75% of the site to support submarine production, workforce training, and industrial capacity.”

The U.S. Department of Defense is awarding a $152 million contract for the Alabama Shipyard expansion. The funding is coming from the National Sea-Based Deterrence fund allocated in fiscal 2024.

Austal, in its announcement, noted the EB contract follows the Alabama yard’s July groundbreaking for a 192,000-square-foot assembly bay designed to support construction of large steel ships for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard.

“This contract award further solidifies Austal USA’s strong industrial partnership with General Dynamics Electric Boat to increase capacity in the submarine industrial base,” Austal USA President Michelle Kruger said. “I’m proud of how the Austal USA team has responded to the call to accelerate production of Columbia and Virginia-class submarines, which is critical to our nation’s defense.”

b..hallenbeck@theday.com