General Dynamics wins $5 billion contract for Columbia class submarines.

According to information published by the US DoD on December 22, 2022, General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $5,134,324,189 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-2117.
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A model of the future Columbia class submarine USS District of Columbia. (Picture source: US Navy)

This modification procures missile tube long-lead-time material; missile tube manufacturing; additional advance procurement, including advance construction and multi-program material-procurement, and production backup units; planned program equipment replacement and spare material for follow-on Columbia-class submarines; and logistics/sustainment support for the U.S. and United Kingdom programs.

This modification also includes additional Submarine Industrial Base (SIB) enhancements as part of the Integrated Enterprise Plan and multi-program material procurement supporting Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines and the nuclear shipbuilding enterprise (Virginia-class and Ford-class).

The industrial base development work is for the furtherance of the Navy’s plan of serial production of Columbia and Virginia submarines.

About the Columbia class submarines

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 1 October 2020, and is scheduled to enter service in 2031.

Each submarine will have 16 missile tubes, each carrying one Trident II D5LE missile (to be upgraded to D5LE2s from the ninth submarine onward after fiscal year 2039).

The submarines will be 560 feet (170.7 m) long and 43 feet (13.1 m) in diameter, as long as the Ohio-class design, and 1 foot (30 cm) larger in diameter.

In a bid to reduce life-cycle cost and acoustic signature, Columbia is to run on electric drive—that is, it will use an electric motor to turn its propellers instead of the reduction gearing and mechanical drive systems used on earlier nuclear-powered submarines.

It will retain the nuclear reactor and steam turbines typical of U.S. Navy submarines. In such systems, the nuclear reactor heats water to steam, the turbines convert the heat in the steam into mechanical energy, and the generators convert that mechanical energy into electrical energy for use by the propulsion motors and other onboard systems.