Bird-Johnson Propeller Facility Breaks Ground in Pascagoula with AUKUS Funding

21 October 2026
Edited By: Haley McQueen

US Navy leaders joined industry partners, members of the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation, Inc., and representatives from the Australian Embassy to break ground on a new facility in Pascagoula, Miss. that will manufacture critical components for in-service and new-construction submarines.

After completing a deployment, the Virginia-class attack submarine USS Hawaii returns to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, March 10, 2015. The future USS Illinois is also a Virginia-class submarine. (Image credit: Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Swink, US Navy)

The $60 million Bird-Johnson Propeller Company Machine Capacity Expansion project will deliver a new, modern, 38,000-square-foot facility capable of producing propulsors, propellers, rotors, and other associated critical components for several shipbuilding programs. The US Navy is contributing $27 million to the effort via its partnership with BlueForge Alliance, with $22 million sourced from Australia’s initial contribution to the US Submarine Industrial Base (SIB) under the AUKUS Pillar I effort.

Australia’s contribution to the US submarine industrial base is focused on increasing maintenance and production capacity to increase the number of submarines in the water and enable the sale of Virginia-class submarines to Australia.

“Australia is contributing a total of $3 billion to uplift the US SIB and support AUKUS objectives, with the first $2 billion received last year,” said Matt Marburger, Deputy Director for AUKUS and International. “We are investing these funds purposefully to activate and align our industrial base to deliver the capability our submarine force requires.”

“Investments like this help strengthen the industrial foundation that underpins our submarine force,” said Capt. Sal Suarez, deputy program manager for the US SIB program. “Australia’s contribution to the SIB augments the funds provided by Congress and allows us to fund programs like this in addition to other critical investments that will deliver warfighting capability to the Fleet.”

“The AUKUS Integration & Acquisition (I&A) team and US Submarine Industrial Base office worked closely to ensure we’re maximizing the benefit from Australia’s contribution,” said Director, Submarine Programs, Vice Adm. Rob Gaucher. “These efforts align and activate our submarine industrial base to help ensure more submarines are ready for tasking.”

“We welcome this investment, which will deliver critical components for the United States submarine program using Australia’s contribution to support the industrial capacity needed to deliver AUKUS,” said Phoebe Greentree, Minister-Counsellor for AUKUS at the Australian Embassy. “This milestone demonstrates the continued momentum and shared commitment of Australia and the United States to deliver Australia’s conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability.”

AUKUS I&A, through close collaboration with the US SIB Program Office, developed a spend plan to invest funds in the highest-impact areas and maximize the impact of Australia’s contribution to the US industrial base. The spend plan aligns investments to complement existing lines-of-effort identified by a 2025 US SIB investment study jointly conducted by the US Navy and the Office of the Secretary of War (OSW) Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE).

AUKUS I&A is the central US Navy program office coordinating the delivery of the US contribution to AUKUS Pillar I. The office integrates critical technical, industrial, and programmatic efforts across the Department of the Navy and with international partners. The office serves as the central hub for synchronizing submarine operations, workforce development, hands-on training pipelines, nuclear stewardship protocols, and trilateral industrial base expansion.