By Richard Abott
Defense Daily
The U.S. Navy awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat $22.2 billion to build nine Block V Virginia-class attack submarines, with an option for a 10th, the Navy’s top acquisition official said this week.
It is the “largest shipbuilding contract the Navy has ever awarded,” James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, told reporters Monday at the Pentagon.
The award covers nine submarines, eight of which will have the Virginia Payload Module and all nine of which will have acoustic superiority improvements. The Navy could trigger the $2-million option for the 10th submarine at any point in the multiyear period of performance. That vessel would also have a Virginia Payload Module, which boosts the missile capacity of the planned vessels, relative to older Block IV designs.
The Navy expects prime General Dynamics and subcontractor Huntington Ingalls Industries to finish work on the nine boats by August 2029. Work will extend to February 2030 if the customer picks up its option for the 10th boat.
Eventually, the Navy plans to purchase 22 Block V Virginia-class submarines. All would have the new payload module, allowing each to carry about as many missiles as four current-generation Ohio-class guided missile submarines do.
The National Nuclear Security Administration, through its Naval Reactors office, designs and produces the nuclear reactors that power the Virginia-class submarines, as well as the reactors for the planned fleet of Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.
BWX Technologies, of Lynchburg, Va., manufactures the heavy components for the naval reactors: a business line in which it enjoys a virtual monopoly.
The nuclear propulsion systems are not part of the shipbuilding contract and are provided as government-furnished equipment. Including the power plants and other government furnished equipment, the total program cost for the first nine Block 5 Virginia subs rises to about $35 billion.
The Navy is asking General Dyanmics and Huntington Ingalls Industries to build two Block V Virginia-class submarines per year from fiscal 2019 to 2023, even as General Dynamics alone starts building one Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine annually starting in 2021.
Geurts said the option for the 10th Virginia boat was put in place as a carrot to keep the contractors on schedule while juggling the two can’t-fail builds.
Adding that incentive stretched out contract negotiations, but potentially allows the Navy and its contractors to “get into a place where we’re comfortable [with] a two-per-year cadence, in a way that we could also execute that during Columbia,” Geurts said. “[A]s performance warrants … we can add a 10th boat in there. If not, we can back off a little to make sure Columbia’s successful.”
The Navy expects to spend more than $100 billion on Columbia. The first ballistic missile boat is set to go on patrol in 2031, with the fleet operating into the 2080s. A planned 12 Columbia subs will replace 14 current Ohio-class vessels.
General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding generally split work on Virginia attack subs. However, as General Dynamics starts building Columbia boats, Huntington Ingalls will be taking more than 50 percent of the final assembly work on the Block V Virginia subs.
The first Block V Virginia boat, SSN-803, will have a 70-month build target, while the first two submarines with the more advanced Virginia Payload Modules will have 74-month targets. Subsequent vessels will have a 72-month build target. The last Block IV Virginia, still under construction, has 60-month target.
This story first appeared in Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor affiliate publication Defense Daily.
