Fincantieri Marinette Marine to Design Large Unmanned Vessel for the U.S. Navy
The Department of Defense and U.S. Navy awarded a contract on September 4th to Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) for design and engineering work of the Navy’s Large Unmanned Surface Vessel (LUSV), the future large-size unmanned surface vessels, able to operate without crew on board.
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FMM and five other companies will receive nearly $7 million each to develop the conceptual design by August 2021. The contract includes an option for an additional study phase to develop detailed engineering work that, if exercised, would extend the duration to May 2022.?The Navy is expected to use these studies for the construction of additional future LUSVs.
?We are interested in helping build tomorrow?s U.S. Navy, including manned and unmanned vessels,? said Dario Deste, CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group.??We are committed to sharing our technical expertise and industry-leading practices to give the U.S. Navy a competitive conceptual design for their large unmanned vessels.??
Four months ago, FMM was awarded the contract to build the Navy?s first-in-class guided-missile FFG(X) frigate, with options for nine follow-on ships collectively worth nearly $5.5 billion.?In addition to that recent milestone, Fincantieri Marine Group is currently building the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships, of which 10 have already been delivered.?
About Fincantieri Marine Group?
Fincantieri Marine Group is the American subsidiary of Fincantieri, and operates three Great Lakes shipyards: Fincantieri Marinette Marine, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, and Fincantieri ACE Marine. Fincantieri Marine Group?s more than 2,100 steelworkers, craftsman, engineers and technicians specialize in the design, construction and maintenance of merchant ships and government vessels, including for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard.?
Luedtke Engineering Company returns to Green Bay Harbor for the fourth time in the last five years to complete maintenance dredging of the federal navigational channel. Each year clean dredge material is beneficially reused by being pumped into island cells of the Cat Island Chain restoration project.
Environmental windows continue to pose the challenge of restricting the time allowed to complete the work each year. However, the dredging Luedtke has been completing is a key component in this environmental endeavor to restore the Cat Island Chain. The aim of this 20+ year project is to diversify wetland habitat for various wildlife species, improve water quality, and help the local sport and commercial fisheries. Already, there have been documented increases in bird numbers with the white pelican, snowy owl, and the endangered whooping crane and piping plover.
A fourth generation, family-owned business since 1930, Luedtke Engineering Company is a full-service marine construction company specializing in mechanical and hydraulic?dredging, dock walls, breakwaters, and other marine?structures. Luedtke is proud of its deep Wisconsin roots. Founder Elroy R. “Duke” Luedtke was born in Reedsville and began his career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Milwaukee. Some of the company’s first projects were constructing and rebuilding breakwaters in Algoma in 1932 and Kewaunee in 1935.
~ Jackie Luedtke Borozan, Luedtke Engineering Company
Photographs (from right to left)
(Tug Kurt R. Luedtke, Dump Scow #17, Derrick Boat #11 and Derrick Boat #14)
University of Wisconsin-Superior Tests the Waters
This month federal and congressional officials announced a $5 million grant award to the University of Wisconsin-Superior for the research and testing of ballast water management technologies. A longtime goal of government officials and the maritime industry has been to halt the spread of invasive species on??the Great Lakes through improved ballast water management techniques.??
This grant is a part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a multi-agency effort to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world?our beautiful Great Lakes!?Ballast water management on our freshwater is fundamentally different from saltwater ballast water technology and presents a unique set of challenges for the maritime community. The ballast water management project will include many federal partners, including the EPA, the Coast Guard, and the Maritime Administration.?
Said Lake Carriers? Association?s Tom Rayburn, ?We are glad that researchers will be looking at ballast water management systems and how they perform in the Great Lakes under the rigorous conditions brought on by huge water temperature ranges, including ice, super-freshwater, excessive sediment loads, and the unique operating requirements of lakers.?We look forward to engaging in the work.???
Congratulations to UW-Superior on the grant!
~ Sara Fuentes, Transportation Institute
Photograph
(Great Waters Research Collaborative Researchers Sampling Ballast Water on Self-Unloading Bulk Carrier Edgar B. Speer )
