Virginia Business Article: Propulson System

Navy’s silent service makes waves in Danville

PUBLISHED APRIL 27, 2023BY COURTNEY MABEUS-BROWN

After graduating a Navy-funded manufacturing training program managed by the Institute for Advanced Learning in Research in Danville last year, Madeline Davis now works as a CNC machinist for Fairlead Integrated in Portsmouth, where she makes metal parts for Navy submarines. Photo by Mark Rhodes

Madeline Davis has never set foot on a Navy submarine, so she doesn’t get to see the products she makes in action.

Davis is a CNC (computer numerical control) machinist at Fairlead Integrated in Portsmouth, where she makes metal parts for the Navy’s silent service. The defense contractor supplies shipboard integrated parts, including for the Navy’s Virginia- and Columbia-class nuclear submarines. Davis has worked in her position since May 2022, after she completed a 16-week CNC machining program that March at the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing Program, a Navy-funded, three-year pilot program managed by the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in her native Danville.. Read More