The Navy announced the award of a long‑awaited contract to General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding for Block VI Virginia‑class submarines, as well as additional Columbia‑class vessels.
The award includes contracts for nine Block VI Virginia‑class submarines and material for a tenth, together with contracts for five Columbia‑class ballistic‑missile submarines. Combined with prior funding for shipyard enhancements, the total value of these contracts approaches $76.6 billion. Both shipyards share responsibility for construction.
Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher, the Pentagon’s submarine program director, stated that the investment reaffirms the Department’s dedication to undersea superiority and the modernization of the nuclear triad, ensuring continuous production of Columbia and Virginia‑class submarines for Combatant Commanders while sustaining the shipbuilding industrial base.
Kari Wilkinson, president of Newport News Shipbuilding, said the contracts provide the American shipbuilding industrial base with the opportunity to demonstrate its commitment and affirmed the company’s honor in serving the customer and the nation.
Mark Rayha, president of General Dynamics Electric Boat, noted that the contract modifications give Electric Boat and its suppliers the demand certainty needed to invest in capacity and workforce, ensuring timely delivery of these critical national‑security assets.
Lawmakers from both parties in Congress have urged the Navy to award the Block IV submarine contract, a procurement authorized in the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
Representative Joe Courtney, the ranking Democrat on the Seapower and Projection Forces Committee, said the contracts secure work at submarine shipyards and thousands of supply‑chain firms into the late 2030s and support the trilateral AUKUS agreement to sell Virginia‑class submarines to Australia in the 2030s.
“These contract awards will be the driving force to stimulate growth across the submarine industrial base,” Courtney said. “The certainty they provide allows thousands of small‑business manufacturers essential to the industrial base to invest in hiring, facilities and equipment. Congress and the Navy must now double‑down on industrial‑base investments that accelerate delivery schedules.”
A recent Government Accountability Office report indicated that the Virginia‑class submarine program is constructing vessels at a pace of one per year as of June 2025, falling short of the Navy’s target of two per year, and that projected delivery dates for the first ten Block V submarines have slipped by nearly three years.
The report noted that recovery plans are not progressing as intended and that the program’s construction‑progress metrics show underperformance relative to its recovery plans.