New Virginia-Class Submarines to Hold More Missiles
10/4/2019
By Connie Lee
BAE Systems is providing the Navy with missile payload tubes that would help new Virginia-class submarines carry more Tomahawks or next-generation guided cruise missiles.
The service will be retiring its fleet of 14 aging Ohio-class submarines in the coming decades and “with that, they lose [a] significant amount of Tomahawk strike capability,†said Jason Warnke, director of launching systems and submarine programs at BAE.
However, increasing the capabilities of the Virginia-class fast attack submarines in the Navy’s Block V buy will help make up for the loss, he said. BAE’s mission payload tubes are part of the Virginia payload module, which has an 84-foot mid-body section and includes four vertical launch tubes each.
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2019/10/4/new-virginia-class-submarines-to-hold-more-missiles
