Navy Estimates 5 More Years for Virginia Attack Sub Production to Hit 2 Boats a Year
By: Sam LaGrone
March 31, 2023 4:56 PM
It will take five years for the two shipbuilders that build Virginia-class attack boats to deliver two submarines a year, according to the Navy’s latest estimates of the production schedule.
Three officials who have been briefed on the Navy’s estimates told USNI News that General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding would put the program on a two-boat-per-year delivery schedule by 2028 with steady improvement in shipyard workforce recruitment and retention.
The two yards are currently on a pace to deliver about 1.2 submarines a year, Navy officials told USNI News this week.
“On the Virginia side of the house … they are significantly behind. They should be at two boats per year. … They have made some progress in moving in [the right] direction. I’m concerned particularly about the construction of the sterns and bows in Virginia and getting those up to Electric Boat up in Connecticut and integrating them all,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told the House Appropriations defense subcommittee this week.
“We are holding industry accountable in every which way that we possibly can and working with them at the same time to try to close these gaps.”
https://news.usni.org/2023/03/31/navy-estimates-5-more-years-for-virginia-attack-sub-production-to-hit-2-boats-a-year
