GE Aerospace has received an official order to power the U.S. Navy’s new Explorer-class ocean surveillance ships, also known as the T-AGOS 25 program. The vessels, operated by the Military Sealift Command, are designed to support anti-submarine warfare by deploying the Surveillance Towed-Array Sensor System to collect acoustic data for the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System.
The Explorer-class features a steel small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) design, offering enhanced stability in high seas to improve sonar performance. Each ship will measure roughly 356 to 359 feet in length with a displacement of about 8,500 tons, and will be larger and faster than the Navy’s in-service T-AGOS vessels.
Shipbuilder Austal USA was awarded a contract valued at approximately $3.2 billion in May 2023 to construct seven Explorer-class ships, with an additional $516 million added in May 2024 to cover cost growth on the first hull. The first two ships have been named USNS Don Walsh (T-AGOS 25) and USNS Victor Vescovo (T-AGOS 26), honoring noted deep-sea explorers.
The new order for GE Aerospace’s marine gas turbine engines aligns with the Navy’s schedule to field seven ships between the mid-2020s and the end of the decade, replacing aging Victorious- and Impeccable-class surveillance platforms and expanding the fleet’s undersea sensing capacity against modern Russian and Chinese submarine threats.