Fincantieri Marine Group is partnering with BMT to design and build a cable ship replacement for the Navy.
The Navy’s only operational cable ship, USNS Zeus, is at the end of its long service life. The Navy is interested in recapitalizing its undersea cable installation and repair capabilities, as well as adding the new mission sets of acoustic, hydrographic, and bathymetric survey, and deploying and recovering unmanned underwater vessels.
BMT was recently awarded the prime contract to conduct industry studies for the T-ARC(X) cable ship replacement program, and Fincantieri Marine will support BMT as a major partner.
“We are pleased to be part of this tremendous industry team led by BMT on this important program,” Mark Vandroff, Fincantieri Marine Group’s senior vice president of business development, said in a statement announcing the partnership. “We believe our team will ultimately provide the Navy with a sustainable and capable ship to perform this critical mission.”
