The Navy on Monday awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat a $497 million modification for a submarine industrial base development and expansion to support the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.
According to the contract announcement, the award also covers the overall nuclear shipbuilding enterprise, which includes Virginia-class attack submarines and Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers. This is part of the “integrated enterprise plan and multi-program material procurement and production backup units.”
The submarine industrial base and expansion work is using improved acquisition authorities from the National Sea-Based Deterrence Funds to improve sub-tier vendor stability and “gain economic efficiencies based on production economies for major components.”
The Navy seeks to improve sub-tier vendor capability to reduce risk to the Columbia-, Virginia-, and Ford-class programs.
The announcement noted the nuclear shipbuilding industry is “ramping up production capability to support the increased demand associated with the Navy’s force structure assessment.”
According to a statement by GDEB President Jeff Geiger, the contract will allow the company “to continue to prepare our suppliers for the increased demand for material and services to support the Columbia and Virginia classes.”
He noted the 5,000 businesses making up the submarine industrial base will need to expand their output by 250 percent during peak Columbia production to meet the Navy’s demand.
“We remain committed to applying our technical strengths and business expertise to effectively manage the challenges of nuclear-submarine production,” Geiger added.
The Navy said the work is in furtherance of the FY 2019 defense authorization act and the FY 2019 defense appropriations act, “which authorized and appropriated additional funds for submarine industrial base development and expansion to ensure second- and third-tier contractors are able to meet increased production requirements.”
This contract will be incrementally funded, with $177 million obligated at the award time.
Columbia submarines, like Ohio-class boats, will carry Trident II-D5 missiles tipped with W76-1 warheads provided by the National Nuclear Security Administration. A “small number” of those missiles will carry low-yield W76-2 warheads NNSA is slated to start delivering to the Navy by Sept. 30, the agency has said.
This story first appeared in Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor affiliate publication Defense Daily.
