WASHINGTON — The Navy has awarded a long-awaited contract to General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding for Block VI Virginia-class submarines, and another for more Columbia-class submarines.
The Navy announced today a contract award for nine Block VI Virginia-class submarines — as well as material for another — and a separate contract award for five Build II Columbia-class ballistic submarines. Coupled with previously awarded funds for shipyard enhancements, the contracts are valued at a total of $76.6 billion. The two shipyards jointly build the submarines.
“This historic investment underscores the Department’s continued commitment to undersea superiority and the recapitalization of our nuclear triad,” Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher, the Pentagon’s submarine czar, said in a statement today. “By securing the continuous production of both the Columbia and Virginia classes, we ensure we will continue to deliver the world’s most lethal, survivable and resilient combat platform to our global Combatant Commanders, while providing long-term stability to our shipbuilding industrial base.
“We are committed to building the nuclear-powered submarines that protect our nation,” Newport News Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson said in a statement. “These contracts provide the American shipbuilding industrial base the opportunity to demonstrate that commitment in a meaningful way and we are honored to serve our customer and our country.”
“These important contract modifications provide Electric Boat and our suppliers with the demand certainty we need to continue investing in capacity and hiring the workforce necessary to ensure we deliver these important national security assets on schedule,” Mark Rayha, president of General Dynamics Electric Boat, said in a statement today.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have pushed for the Navy to award the contract for the Block IV submarines, after Congress authorized procurement in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2024.
For example, Connecticut Rep. Joe Courtney, the top Democrat on the seapower and projection forces committee, issued a letter to Pentagon acquisition czar Michael Duffey in March claiming that holding off on the contract award was creating “uncertainty for the suppliers and shipbuilders who depend on long-lead planning to produce and acquire the components and modules for submarine construction.”
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Today, Courtney said in a statement that the contracts “secure work at submarine shipyards and thousands of supply chain companies well into the late 2030s,” and also supports the trilateral AUKUS security agreement to sell three in-service Virginia-class submarines to Australia in the 2030s.
“These contract awards will be the driving force to stimulate growth across the submarine industrial base,” Courtney said in a statement today. “Crucially, the thousands of small business manufacturers who are essential to the industrial base now have the certainty they have been asking for to make needed investments in hiring, facilities, and equipment. Congress and the Navy must now double-down on industrial base investments that are moving delivery schedules to the left.”
Meanwhile, the Virginia-class submarine program has faced some challenges and delays, stemming from late material deliveries and a shortage of experienced workers, according to a Government Accountability Officer (GAO) report released this month.
Specifically, the report said that shipbuilders are constructing Virginia-class submarines at the pace of one per year as of June 2025 — falling short of the Navy’s target of two per year. Likewise, the report said that projected delivery dates for the first 10 Block V submarines are delayed, “slipping by an average of almost 3 years since original contract award.”
“Recovery plans are not progressing as intended,” the GAO report said. “The program developed a report to track its progress towards building submarines at a rate of two per year. However, the report’s construction progress metrics indicate the program is already underperforming its recovery plans.”
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