The Navy's 14-Submarine Buy Is Now Reaching the Parts Suppliers
Curtiss-Wright booked over $225 million from Bechtel Plant Machinery for submarine and carrier propulsion hardware through 2030, three months after the Navy signed modifications worth up to $76.6 billion for 14 new submarines.
When the U.S. Navy signed contract modifications worth up to $76.6 billion in July for fourteen nuclear submarines, the money landed on two shipbuilders. The effects are now reaching further down the supply chain, one component order at a time. On November 4, Curtiss-Wright announced awards valued in excess of $225 million to supply propulsion valves, pumps and instrumentation and control systems for the Virginia, Columbia and Ford carrier and submarine programs, with work running through 2030.
The buyer was Bechtel Plant Machinery, a wholly owned Bechtel subsidiary that serves as the prime contractor for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. BPMI buys, quality-controls and delivers major propulsion plant components for nuclear-powered carriers and submarines, a role it has held since the late 1950s and one that now covers roughly 80 boats with a workforce of nearly 1,200 people. Curtiss-Wright says it has supplied the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program for over 60 years, supporting every nuclear-powered submarine and aircraft carrier the Navy has commissioned.
Fourteen boats, one long parts list
The underlying award came on July 29, when the Navy awarded combined modifications worth up to $76.6 billion to General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII's Newport News Shipbuilding. The package covered five Build II Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN 828 through 832) and nine Block VI Virginia-class attack submarines (SSN 814 through 822), plus a 10th shipset of material. Electric Boat's share came to $29.5 billion for the five Columbias and $42.1 billion for the nine Virginias, along with shipyard infrastructure support.
Mark Rayha, president of Electric Boat, said the modifications "provide Electric Boat and our suppliers with the demand certainty we need to continue investing in capacity and hiring the workforce necessary to ensure we deliver these important national security assets on schedule." Electric Boat does not cast its own valves or wind its own pumps; a submarine's propulsion plant is assembled from components ordered on long lead times, and each of the fourteen boats needs its own complete set.
Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher, the Pentagon's submarine program executive, told Janes in August: "We bought 14 new subs," adding "we have to buy 14 subs' worth of parts as soon as possible." He described the contracts as sending "a demand signal to get material orders out on long-term contracts." The award to Curtiss-Wright, placed through BPMI three months later, is what that demand signal looks like once it reaches an equipment supplier.
The numbers already moving
The third quarter shows the demand is not theoretical. Curtiss-Wright reported sales of $953 million for the quarter ended September 30, up 10 percent, with Naval & Power segment sales of $412 million, up 12 percent, on operating income of $76 million and an 18.5 percent margin, up 280 basis points. The company attributed naval defense growth to the timing of production on the Columbia-class and Virginia-class submarine programs plus higher aftermarket revenue from aircraft carrier refueling and overhaul projects. New orders of $1.1 billion were up 15 percent, producing a book-to-bill of 1.1x and lifting backlog to $4.6 billion, up 12 percent year to date. Adjusted diluted earnings per share rose 16 percent to $3.94, and the company repurchased $352 million of stock in the quarter.
The same pattern shows up at the top of the chain. General Dynamics reported third-quarter backlog of $220.3 billion, with defense-segment orders of $93.8 billion driven largely by Marine Systems orders for Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines, on revenue of $14.6 billion, up 12.9 percent. Company-wide book-to-bill ran 6.8-to-1. Curtiss-Wright raised full-year 2026 guidance to sales growth of 8 to 10 percent, from 8 to 9 percent, and adjusted diluted EPS of $15.40 to $15.60, from $15.10 to $15.40, with CEO Lynn Bamford saying the company remains positioned to benefit from continued funding for naval shipbuilding.
Why the orders keep coming while the budget stalls
The federal budget adds a wrinkle. The government is funded by continuing resolution P.L. 119-103 through December 11, 2026, with funding lapsing December 12, and fiscal 2027 defense appropriations are not yet enacted. That uncertainty shapes future programs, but it does very little to slow the boats already under contract, because the July modifications were designed to lock in parts consumption early.
The $225 million Curtiss-Wright award is a comparatively small number next to $76.6 billion, and that is the point. Large prime contracts convert into a stream of component orders placed through propulsion integrators, and each one carries a multi-year work window. With Naval & Power margins expanding and backlog rising on both sides of the chain, the July submarine buy is proving to be less a single event than a schedule of demand that keeps arriving for years, with the current order book at the equipment layer running through 2030.
