General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) announced on 5 August 2024 that it has been awarded a USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.19 billion) undefinitised contract modification allowing the company to purchase long lead time materials for the US Navy’s planned Virginia-class Block VI nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs).
“This contract modification sends a crucial demand signal, enabling our suppliers to invest in the capacity and materials needed to increase production volume,” Kevin Graney, GDEB president, was quoted as saying in a company press release. “Consistent funding for the supply base is essential to achieve the high-rate production the navy requires of the entire submarine enterprise.”
Virginia-class submarines are designed from the keel up for the full range of 21st-century mission requirements, including anti-submarine and surface ship warfare and special operations support.
Connecticut-based GDEB is the prime contractor and lead design yard for the Virginia class and constructs them in a teaming arrangement with HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia.
The Block VI version of the Virginia-class SSN is the stepping stone to the US Navy’s next-generation SSN (SSNX).
There are currently 22 Virginia-class SSNs in service, as well as three that have been launched, another nine that are under construction and four future boats that will follow those.
The first Virginia-class Block VI boat is included in the Fiscal Year 2025 Pentagon budget request currently being debated in Congress.
The Block VIs boats will be the second set of Virginia-class attack submarines to feature the Virginia Payload Module after the second boat onwards of Block V.
While the 10 submarines comprising the Virginia class Blocks I and II had 12 Vertical Launch System tubes for firing Tomahawk cruise missiles, for Blocks III and IV these were replaced by two large-diameter 87-inch (2.2 m) Virginia Payload Tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles using multiple all-up round canisters, to save on construction costs.
The Virginia Payload Module will meet the US Navy’s requirement for a large-scale land strike missile platform after the service decommissions four Ohio-class guided-missile submarines by the end of the decade.
