Report to Congress on SSN(X) Next Generation Submarine
U.S. Naval Institute Staff
July 17, 2025 8:19 AM
The following is the July 14, 2025, Congressional Research Service In Focus report, Navy Next-Generation Attack Submarine (SSN[X]) Program: Background and Issues for Congress.
From the report
The Navy has been procuring Virginia-class nuclear powered attack submarines (SSNs) since FY1998. The Navy’s envisaged successor to the Virginia-class design is the Next-Generation Attack Submarine, or SSN(X). The Navy’s FY2025 budget submission deferred the envisaged procurement of the first SSN(X) from FY2035 to FY2040 due, the Navy stated, to limitations on the Navy’s total budget. The Navy’s proposed FY2026 budget requests $622.8 million in research and development funding for the SSN(X) program.
Submarines in the U.S. Navy
The U.S. Navy operates nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), nuclear-powered cruise missile and special operations forces (SOF) submarines (SSGNs), and nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs). The SSNs are general-purpose submarines that can perform a variety of peacetime and wartime missions.
Virginia-Class Program
When procured at a rate of two boats per year, Virginia-class SSNs (Figure 1) equipped with the Virginia Payload Module (VPM) have an estimated procurement cost of more than $4 billion per boat.
Submarine Construction Industrial Base
U.S. Navy submarines are built by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat Division (GD/EB) of Groton, CT, and Quonset Point, RI, and Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding (HII/NNS), of Newport News, VA. These are the only two shipyards in the country capable of building nuclear-powered ships. GD/EB builds submarines only, while HII/NNS also builds nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The submarine construction industrial base also includes hundreds of supplier firms, as well as laboratories and research facilities, in numerous states. Much of the material procured from supplier firms for building submarines comes from sole-source suppliers.
https://news.usni.org/2025/07/17/report-to-congress-on-ssnx-next-generation-submarine
