NEWPORT – The federal government plans to spend $9.9 million on construction of a new facility to support research on unmanned anti-submarine warfare at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport, lawmakers announced today.

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., joined NUWC’s commander, Capt. Michael W. Byman, and other U.S. Navy officials to announce the project this morning at Naval Station Newport, which is home to the center and more than 40 other naval and defense commands and activities.

The project will convert a World War II-era building – originally a steam plant – into a new facility where the Navy can test unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), underwater surveillance, and other undersea technologies, according to a news release.

Reed and Kennedy, who serve on the appropriations committees in their respective chambers, said they secured the funding in Congress. The federal government’s Web portal for contractors, FBO.gov, posted details about the project in December.

“This facility will allow [the Navy] to begin work on the next generation of unmanned underwater vehicles,” Reed said in a statement. “It will also help reinforce Newport’s role as a high-tech and development hub of the Navy’s undersea technologies.”

Kennedy added that it would “ensure the long-term future” of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, which he called “the crown jewel of New England’s defense infrastructure.”

The project’s design phase was awarded last month and construction is set to begin next year, the release said. It did not disclose which companies bid on the project successfully.

NUWC, which conducts much of the Navy’s advanced research on undersea warfare, is marking its 140th anniversary this year.

Naval Station Newport is home to more than 40 naval and defense commands and activities, from the historic Naval War College to the technologically advanced Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), Division Newport. For more information, visit www.nsnpt.navy.mil or www.nuwc.navy.mil.