Huntington Ingalls Industries announced today that its Newport News Shipbuilding division has been awarded a contract modification from General Dynamics Electric Boat in support of construction on the first two Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. The contract modification, valued at approximately $2.2 billion, provides continued design support efforts, as well as the construction and delivery of six module sections for each of the first two Columbia-class submarines. As part of the contract, Newport News will deliver the completed modules to Electric Boat for final assembly. The contracted module delivery dates are scheduled to start in November 2022 with the last module delivery taking place by January 2028.
“We are pleased to be a crucial design and manufacturing contributor to the Columbia-class program,” said Charles Southall, Newport News’ vice president of Columbia-class Submarine Construction. “This contract continues NNS’ longstanding and strong commitment to the Navy’s undersea enterprise through the design and construction of major modules and assemblies necessary to achieve program objectives.”
Newport News is a major contractor and shipbuilding partner in the Columbia-class program, and in May 2019 began advance construction activities on the lead ballistic missile submarine under contract to Electric Boat. The Columbia class will replace the fleet of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. The lead ship is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in 2027. Huntington Ingalls Industries is America’s largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. For more than a century, HII’s Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder.
The Columbia-class submarine, formerly known as the Ohio Replacement Submarine and SSBN-X Future Follow-on Submarine, is an upcoming class of nuclear submarines designed to replace the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines in the United States Navy. The first submarine officially began construction on October 1, 2020 and is scheduled to enter service in 2031. The Columbia class is being designed to replace the UGM-133 Trident II–armed Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, whose remaining boats will be decommissioned, one per year, beginning in 2027. The Columbia class will take over the role of submarine presence in the United States’ strategic nuclear force.
