The U.S. Navy plans to build the second Virginia-class nuclear submarine in 2021 in order to meet operational demand by 2020s, Breaking Defense reported Friday.Studies done by the Navy indicate General Dynamics’ Electric Boat subsidiary and Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division can continue to build two Virginia-class submarines per year even if construction work on the first Ohio Replacement Program submarine kicks off in 2021, Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. writes.
Rear Adm. Michael Jabaley, program executive officer for submarines at the service branch, said at a Center for Strategic & International Studies event, that the military branch believes that after 2021, shipbuilders would be provided with additional facilities to build two Virginias on an annual basis and that the plan on the Virginia program “won’t detract from the construction of that first Ohio Replacement hull.â€
The report said the service branch is projected to operate below the requirement of 48 attack submarines as some of that vessels approach retirement by 2029.
