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# Navy and MARAD Put $9.6 Million Into Fincantieri's Wisconsin Shipyards After Frigate Cuts
- URL: https://foxwatershed.com/fincantieri-wisconsin-shipyards-navy-funding/
- Published: 2026-10-15T03:24:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-15T03:23:59.000Z
- Description: Federal money will buy welding, cutting and automation equipment for the Marinette, Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay yards, which lost four frigates last year and are waiting to start a new class of Navy landing ships.
- Author: Fox Watershed Staff
- Tags: Wisconsin, Green Bay

Fincantieri Marine Group will get about $9.6 million in federal money to retool its three Northeast Wisconsin shipyards, [NBC 26 reported](https://www.nbc26.com/news/local-news/10-million-in-federal-investment-to-modernize-fincantieris-wisconsin-shipyards?ref=foxwatershed.com) Wednesday. The money comes from two pots: about $8.3 million from the Navy's Shipbuilding Capability Industrial Base program and a $1.3 million Small Shipyard Grant from the federal Maritime Administration. The company announced the awards Tuesday.

The grants pay for new cutting, forming, welding and automation equipment across what Fincantieri calls its Wisconsin System of Shipyards, in Marinette, Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay. The company says the upgrades will support the Navy's new Medium Landing Ship program and other work, [according to Offshore Source](https://offshoresource.com/news/maritime/fincantieri-marine-group-receives-10-million-in-navy-marad-funding-for-wisconsin-shipyard-upgrades?ref=foxwatershed.com). Neither report says how the money will be divided among the three yards.

Fincantieri Marine Group CEO George Moutafis called the funding "an important demonstration of the Navy's confidence in Fincantieri."

## State money for robotic welders

The state is adding training money. The Department of Workforce Development awarded Fincantieri Marine Group $232,788 through its WisTRAIN program to train 66 current welders and 16 new ones on collaborative robotic welding systems, [according to the governor's announcement](https://www.wispolitics.com/2026/gov-evers-dwd-announce-6-6-million-in-new-grants-to-train-over-3800-wisconsin-workers-in-advanced-manufacturing-and-ai/?ref=foxwatershed.com) Tuesday. The company also gets $9,600 to train 12 workers through a Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance consortium grant. The WisTRAIN round, paid for with federal funds the Evers administration secured, totals $6.6 million for 84 employers and 3,823 workers statewide.

The federal agreement also lets Fincantieri continue an employee benefit through 2027: a tax-free payment of up to $5,000 a year toward child care or elder care, Offshore Source reported. Earlier Navy industrial-base money is paying for a welding lab now under construction at Fincantieri Marinette Marine, where workers will train and recertify in-house.

## A year after the frigate cuts

The upgrades come as the Marinette yard tries to replace work it lost. In November 2025, Fincantieri and the Navy [agreed to reshape the Constellation-class frigate program](https://fincantierimarinegroup.com/fincantieri-marine-group-to-reshape-the-constellation-class-program-to-better-support-evolving-needs-of-the-u-s-navy-strengthening-strategic-partnership/?ref=foxwatershed.com). Two frigates already under construction in Marinette continue. Contracts for four more were canceled, and the Navy agreed to cover the company's existing economic commitments.

The program had been badly behind schedule. Delivery of the lead ship, the future USS Constellation, slipped from April 2026 to April 2029, [gCaptain reported](https://gcaptain.com/after-frigate-setbacks-navy-turns-to-commercial-style-construction/?ref=foxwatershed.com). Navy Secretary John Phelan terminated the four frigates that hadn't started construction.

In early December, [NBC 26 reported](https://www.nbc26.com/news/local-news/fincantieri-marinette-marine-lays-off-93-white-collar-workers-following-navy-cut-to-frigate-orders?ref=foxwatershed.com) that Fincantieri Marinette Marine had laid off 93 employees, mostly engineers and other white-collar staff. A company spokesperson said each received a severance package. In May the yard sent off the USS Cleveland, the last Littoral Combat Ship it built for the U.S. Navy. Marinette Mayor Steve Genisot [told Spectrum News](https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2026/05/12/navy-contracts-marinette-marine-wisconsin?ref=foxwatershed.com), "We can't stress enough that we need to keep the jobs here."

## The landing ship bet

The replacement work is the Medium Landing Ship, a vessel of roughly 4,000 tons meant to move Marines and their equipment from ship to shore. In April the Navy gave Fincantieri Marinette Marine a [$30 million contract](https://fincantierimarinegroup.com/fincantieri-secures-its-first-navy-contract-for-lsm-program/?ref=foxwatershed.com) for long-lead materials and production readiness on the first four ships, with construction possible as soon as the fourth quarter of 2026.

The Navy plans 35 of the ships. Tom Levac, Fincantieri's vice president of program management, [told WisBusiness](https://www.wisbusiness.com/2026/30m-contract-lays-groundwork-for-building-four-new-navy-vessels-at-wi-shipyards/?ref=foxwatershed.com) the first four could be built across Marinette and Sturgeon Bay, possibly with support from Green Bay. The cost estimates are far apart. The Congressional Budget Office has put each ship at $340 million to $430 million, while the Navy estimates about $150 million, WisBusiness reported.

The Navy is also changing how it buys the ships. Instead of contracting directly with a shipyard, it plans to hire a vessel construction manager that would hold the prime contract and subcontract with yards, taking responsibility for schedules and quality, gCaptain reported. The first ships are split between Fincantieri Marinette Marine and Bollinger Shipyards.

## Who works there

Fincantieri's own workforce figures have shifted. The company counted about 3,750 U.S. workers in its November 2025 frigate announcement. WisBusiness reported about 2,000 Wisconsin employees in April. The company's statement on the new grants refers to about 3,000 skilled workers, according to Offshore Source.

The supply chain reaches further. Fincantieri buys from more than 600 U.S. suppliers, including about 250 in Wisconsin and 100 in Michigan, according to WisBusiness. The company says it has invested more than $800 million in its U.S. yards over roughly two decades, and [gCaptain reported](https://gcaptain.com/fincantieri-adds-600-shipyard-workers-as-u-s-shipbuilding-renaissance-gains-steam/?ref=foxwatershed.com) in 2025 that more than half of that was earmarked for Marinette.

Beyond Navy work, the Marinette yard is building a Littoral Combat Ship variant for the Saudi navy and a new class of high-speed unmanned vessels for Saildrone, a private company, according to Spectrum News.