• Virginia Class Program
  Status

BACKGROUND
The VIRGINIA nuclear submarine is the latest class of advanced capability fast attack submarine to be designed and delivered to the United States Navy. VIRGINIA was conceived in the early 1990s as the less expensive successor to the SEAWOLF submarine, which was designed to counter high performance Soviet submarines at the end of the Cold War. The need for a large number of SEAWOLF Class submarines was obviated by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. The VIRGINIA was designed after the Cold War had ended for a new threat environment – one which would predominately involve many smaller conflicts in the near shore environment known as the littorals. The VIRGINIA Class submarine helps ensure our future national security by providing theater commanders with an affordable and flexible multi-mission stealth platform that replaces the aging fleet of approximately 50 LOS ANGELES Class (SSN688 Class) attack submarines. The VIRGINIA Class has been designed with reconfigurable spaces and features that make it adaptable and responsive to the changing and evolving threat. It supports seven post Cold War missions including: covert intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); anti-submarine warfare; special forces warfare; precision strike warfare; anti-surface ship warfare; mine warfare; and support of Joint Forces. It exploits advanced technology that reduces the cost of submarines while maintaining the requisite capability to perform the above missions against all threats in every corner of the ocean. With their firepower, stealth and endurance, VIRGINIA Class ships will ensure that the United States maintains its undersea superiority for many years to come.

SHIP DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
The VIRGINIA Class submarine was designed by Electric Boat Corporation. It was the first US Navy warship to be designed using advanced computer-aided design and visualization technology that supports integrated design and manufacturing from a single product model database. The class design is complete and the program is now in low rate production at one ship per year.

CURRENT STATUS
Each ship of the Class is being constructed by both General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut and Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and by Northrop Grumman Newport News in Newport News, Virginia. Construction is being accomplished under a unique co-production teaming agreement whereby the construction of the ship’s 18 major modules has been assigned to respective yards and the delivery of each ship is alternated between each yard. Electric Boat is the prime contractor for the entire construction program. Material is ordered and work is scheduled based on the class build plan and construction schedule. It takes approximately nine million manhours of shipyard labor to build a VIRGINIA Class submarine. Each submarine costs approximately $2.2B, of which an estimated 65% is for Contractor- or Government-procured material. More than 4,000 suppliers in 47 states provide material and equipment directly to the shipyards to support the construction program. The Navy expects to build 30 VIRGINIA Class submarines and has placed orders for the first 10 ships as shown in Figure 2. The first four ships of the Class are part of Block I of the ship construction program that includes the lead ship USS VIRGINIA, SSN774. The USS VIRGINIA has been delivered and is completing Navy post delivery trials in support of its operational test and evaluation program that concludes in 2006. A second Block involving six additional ships is being procured using a multi-year contracting approach. This approach allows the Navy and shipyards to place contracts with suppliers for multiple shipsets of equipment to realize the cost benefit of economic order quantities.

TRANSITION TO STABLE PRODUCTION
This VIRGINIA Class Submarine Program has transitioned from development to production. As demonstrated during its acceptance trials, the VIRGINIA is superbly suited to provide the advanced capability that is required by the warfighter to meet national security requirements. The development program will conclude in 2006, and will be marked by the successful certification of the lead ship Initial Operating Capability (IOC) and the delivery of the second “lead” ship of the Class, USS TEXAS, SSN775, from Newport News. Based on the mature ship design, the shipyards are working to drive continued production efficiency into the build process through lessons learned, producibility improvement initiatives, capital investment, and technology insertion. The next logical step in the Virginia acquisition program is an FY09 Congressional authorization of a third block of seven ships in a five year multi-year procurement. This will increase the build rate of the VIRGINIA Class to two ships per year in FY12, consistent with the program of record. The President’s FY06 budget submittal currently has the Class build rate at one ship per year through 2011. Transition from one ship per year low rate production to two ships per year will improve cost performance on each ship as fixed shipbuilder costs are applied across a broader base and suppliers’ volume benefits are realized.

Figure 2. VIRGINIA Class Ship Construction Status