National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) announced (12 October) that it has been named the prime contractor on $17.4 million in research and development contracts awarded by the MARITECH Advanced Shipbuilding Enterprise (ASE) Program. In addition to the funds awarded by MARITECH, industry participants will invest $23.5 million of their own funds in the projects for a total program cost of $40.9 million.

NASSCO will lead a team of U.S. shipbuilders, marine design and technology firms, and universities on two three-year projects to develop advanced systems for the construction of Navy and commercial ships. NASSCO will receive approximately one-half of the R&D award amount, with the remainder going to its research partners.

The goals of these new MARITECH projects are to develop detailed methods for reengineering the shipbuilding process, using NASSCO as the test shipyard, and developing new rules for ship design and material selection. These joint efforts are expected to reduce the cost of building ships for the Navy and further improve the competitiveness of the U.S. shipbuilding industry in constructing commercial ships for international markets.