Naval engineers will not go unemployed.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: DEFENSEINSIDER

The shipbuilding industry's current misery could be another's opportunity.

With fewer new ship-construction orders on the horizon, the Navy will be expected to keep the current fleet in service far longer than originally scheduled. The work associated with prolonging the useful life of a ship--known in Navy-speak as "life-cycle extension"--could translate into billions of dollars in future contracts for companies that have engineering expertise that may not be available within the government.

Such skills will be in greater demand in the coming years, predicts Richard M. Biben, chief executive and president of Gibbs & Cox Inc., a naval engineering firm founded in 1929.

Biben, who took over the company in August, says he was hired with expectations...