NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I.—Could “collaborative robots” get Navy submarine projects back on cost and schedule? General Dynamics Electric Boat is seeing results using programmable devices that cut and weld steel.
“You’re about to see a show!” a supervisor said, shouting over a soundtrack of whirs and clanging on a manufacturing floor almost the width of a football field.
Moments later, bright white sparks flew overhead. A white-and-black robotic arm, assisted by a team of welders, began cutting steel for a module for a Virginia-class attack submarine.
It’s a big, time-consuming task. But using robotics can speed up the process of cutting and joining steel.
“Big welds take a lot of energy,” said Raymond Gabriel, the vice president of strategic operations for Electric Boat, who led reporters through the Quonset Point facility as part of a tour arranged by Rhode Island’s Commerce Department.
The shipbuilder has been using collaborative robots, or cobots, for cutting since 2023. Welding cobots were implemented in 2024. Cobots are designed to work alongside humans.
“Every robot has a human that is operating it,” whether it’s a scan or a weld, Gabriel said.
The Quonset Point facility is where submarines get their start. Electric Boat is exploring more automation in early fabrication, but doesn’t expect robots to build submarines on their own. Welders still do things by hand but use cobots largely to cut and bevel large plates of curved steel. Some welds have to be ground by hand to meet specifications, Gabriel said.
The young welders “love it,” Gabriel said, because they can program the cobots and “go.” Plus, using them is safer and can save hundreds of labor hours.
The results are “night and day,” according to a facility director of outfitting, who said an entire outfitting process for the new Columbia class of ballistic missile submarines dropped to 65 days from 180 days after adopting cobots.
Electric Boat brings in about 50 to 100 welders a month and the facility is currently working to speed up production, Gabriel said. The company has about 24,000 employees across its locations in Rhode Island and Connecticut with about 6,800 in Quonset Point. Earlier this year, the company vowed to hire more than 3,000 workers at both locations, the Providence Journal reported. The company’s annual attrition rate is around 10 percent.
The Navy’s submarine-construction efforts—and naval shipbuilding in general—have fallen behind cost and schedule estimates in recent years, thanks to a confluence of a skilled workforce shortage, pay challenges, an anemic supply chain, and increased production demands. For example, the first Columbia-class sub is at least a year behind schedule, according to a Government Accountability Office report published in April, and is now slated to arrive in 2029, USNI News reported.
The White House has also increased its focus on shipbuilding, with a proposed $20.8 billion in the Pentagon’s 2026 budget request and $26.5 billion in budget reconciliation funds.
Navy Secretary John Phelan recently called on shipbuilders to use new tech, including robotics and automation, to help boost workers’ training.
“A lot of people are afraid of automation and robotics. I think it just enhances and makes the workers’ jobs easier. I’ve seen that at a number of yards. It’s not to replace jobs, it’s to make [them] more efficient,” he said.
But robots alone aren’t going to erase delays. Besides waiting for parts or components from suppliers, shipyard space is the biggest challenge. The company has made several real estate purchases this year in Connecticut, including a former Macy’s department store that will eventually support engineering, training, and laboratory work.
“There’s an increasing demand for submarines, so we are always looking at ways to maximize the use of our space on the water,” said Myra Lee, Electric Boat’s spokesperson. For example, the company is looking for off-site warehousing so inventory doesn’t have to be held at the waterfront facility.
At Quonset Point, the company is using every bit of available space to meet demand.
“You start to get jammed up,” Gabriel said. Plates of curved steel standby waiting to be welded and shaped for missile-tube cylinders.
But that’s on purpose so there’s always something to do, he said.
“It’s like Noah’s Ark,” he said, “There should be two of everything” as parts and components of multiple boats are worked on simultaneously in a space.
There’s a lot of steel throughout the 400-acre facility— some pieces that can fit in your palm, and others that require massive cranes and lifts to maneuver. That means there’s a lot of cutting and welding—thousands of connections—to get things just right.
Production takes longer at the final outfitting stage, where wires and tubing are integrated into the submarine’s structure. Delays that occur earlier in the process, such as getting parts from suppliers, affect those last stages before final assembly. Modules are turned horizontally, into the position the ship will be in. This is also where physical space is the most valuable—and quickly disappears.
Reporters got to see that space challenge in action as a module was carefully turned around on a transporter so it could be attached to a supermodule. Once complete, that supermodule will be loaded onto a barge and shipped to Electric Boat’s facility in Groton, Conn., for final assembly.
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