SAIC’s Stephen Rigdon on Need to Rebuild Supply Chain for Navy Mk48 Torpedo

Production of Mk48 torpedoes went on hiatus for 20 years and Science Applications International Corp. is now starting to manufacture the propulsion system and other afterbody sections of the submarine-launched weapon at its Bedford, Ind.-based facility under a contract with the U.S. Navy, Seapower reported Tuesday.

“This is a build-from-scratch program,” Stephen Rigdon, vice president for programs at SAIC’s defense systems customer group, said of the Mk48 torpedo program.

“They haven’t been built since the mid-90s. The biggest challenge we faced is reinvigorating the supply chain, finding suppliers that can provide the assemblies that go inside this torpedo,” he added.

SAIC is required to produce 95 propulsion components for the torpedoes under the contract and Rigdon said the Navy may procure up to 199 additional sections.

The report noted that Lockheed Martin builds the weapon system’s guidance-and-control section for the service.