Defense Department Shores Up Shipbuilding Industrial Base With $56 Million

Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding Division contractors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) in February 2020. U.S. NAVY / Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Riley McDowell

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Defense Department is taking another Defense Production Act Title III action to shore up the nation’s shipbuilding industrial base in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The action is one of seven announced July 10 by the Defense Department “to help sustain and strengthen essential domestic industrial base capabilities and defense-critical workforce. … These actions will help to retain critical workforce capabilities throughout the disruption caused by COVID-19 and to restore some jobs lost because of the pandemic,” the release said. 

DoD is investing $56 million in ArcelorMittal Inc. to sustain critical domestic industrial base shipbuilding capability and capacity. ArcelorMittal, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is a steel and mining company with a major facility in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. 

“This investment will expand ArcelorMittal’s plate processing footprint and heat-treating capability, subsequently increasing its alloy steel plate production and ensure the U.S. Government gets dedicated long-term industrial capacity to meet the needs of the nation,” the release said, noting that the investment “will protect jobs in a region hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure critical capabilities are retained in support of U.S. Navy operational readiness.” 

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Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor