IN Brief:
- Graham has secured two US naval contracts with a combined value exceeding $43 million.
- The awards cover MK48 Mod 7 alternators and regulators, and new MK19 Mod 2 air turbine pump assemblies.
- Pump deliveries are scheduled from 2028 to 2030, creating a multi-year production and supplier-management requirement.
Graham Corporation has secured two US naval contracts worth more than $43 million for equipment supporting the MK48 Mod 7 heavyweight torpedo programme and submarine fleet spares.
Graham Corporation received the first award as a fourth option year under an existing agreement for alternators and regulators used in the MK48 programme. The option was exercised during the first quarter of the company’s 2027 financial year, which ended on 30 June 2026.
A second contract, awarded during the following quarter, covers new-build MK19 Mod 2 air turbine pump assemblies for the US submarine fleet’s spares inventory. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2028 and continue through 2030, giving Graham a defined production window extending well beyond its current reporting period.
The company has not divided the combined value between the two awards, disclosed unit quantities, or identified the submarine classes that will receive the pump assemblies. The contracts nevertheless address two separate sustainment requirements: maintaining continuity in torpedo power hardware and replenishing a specialised submarine component through a multi-year build programme.
Matthew Malone, president and chief executive officer of Graham Corporation, said: “These awards reflect the continued demand we’re seeing across our defense platforms, and demonstrate the durability of our customer relationships built over years of consistent execution.”
The MK48 is the US Navy’s heavyweight submarine-launched torpedo for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare. Alternators and regulators sit inside the weapon’s electrical chain, where generated power must remain stable enough to support onboard systems through launch, underwater transit, target acquisition, and terminal manoeuvre.
That role creates a different manufacturing task from producing a general industrial alternator. Components must fit an established envelope, tolerate storage and handling, survive launch loads and underwater operation, and deliver repeatable output without introducing electrical noise or thermal behaviour that compromises neighbouring equipment. A follow-on option year also demands configuration continuity, because hardware produced now must remain compatible with a weapon family maintained and upgraded over decades.
The MK19 Mod 2 air turbine pump contract addresses another mature naval requirement. Graham describes the equipment as fleet-spares hardware rather than a newly introduced subsystem, placing interchangeability, documentation, and reliability ahead of novelty. A spare intended for submarine service must match controlled interfaces and acceptance criteria so that it can replace existing equipment without creating additional ship-level modification work.
Long lead times are routine in this part of the industrial base. A delivery period beginning in 2028 gives Graham time to secure materials, schedule machining and assembly, complete testing, and align output with customer demand, but it also exposes the programme to supplier availability and cost movement before the final units ship.
Naval turbomachinery and power equipment require a tightly controlled assurance chain. Rotating parts, bearings, seals, housings, and control components must be manufactured within narrow tolerances, while completed assemblies need traceable material records and evidence that they meet vibration, pressure, flow, temperature, and endurance requirements. When equipment is destined for a submarine or an underwater weapon, access after deployment is limited and failure consequences are difficult to contain.
The two awards will enter Graham’s backlog across the first and second quarters of fiscal 2027. That accounting treatment adds committed work, but revenue will follow production milestones and delivery rather than the announcement date. Multi-year naval contracts provide useful visibility only when engineering, supplier, and test capacity remain aligned throughout the programme.
The MK48 option supports continuity on an existing production route, while the MK19 award establishes a new build schedule for spare assemblies. Managing both will require experienced labour and qualified processes to be preserved across programmes that may use different tooling, test stands, inspection plans, and customer acceptance procedures.
Fleet-spares work rarely attracts the attention given to a new submarine or weapon order, yet it exposes the practical limits of naval readiness. A platform can remain structurally sound while unavailable for want of a qualified pump, regulator, or rotating assembly that has no commercial substitute. Replenishing those items before inventories become critical is one of the less visible functions of the defence industrial base.
Graham’s next measurable milestones will be production progress on the MK48 option and the start of MK19 deliveries in 2028. The contracts add more than $43 million of demand, but their operational value will be measured in accepted hardware entering torpedo and submarine support channels on schedule.
