U.S. Navy Orders 26 Stealth Communications Shipsets for Virginia and Columbia Submarines.

L3Harris Technologies secured a full-rate production contract from General Dynamics Electric Boat to deliver 26 integrated communications shipsets for U.S. Navy Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines through 2033. The award strengthens low-observable, survivable command-and-control at a time when undersea competition and strategic deterrence demands are intensifying.

L3Harris Technologies has secured a full-rate production contract to deliver integrated communications shipsets that strengthen the U.S. Navy’s ability to keep Virginia-class attack submarines and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines connected without sacrificing stealth or increasing exposure at periscope depth. Awarded by General Dynamics Electric Boat, the follow-on deal covers 26 shipsets and sustains production for both submarine classes through 2033, supporting a standardized, low-observable command-and-control baseline that enables time-sensitive tasking, intelligence updates, and coordinated strike operations as the fleet expands undersea presence while fielding its next-generation sea-based strategic deterrent.
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L3Harris' full-rate production contract will deliver 26 integrated communications shipsets for U.S. Navy Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines, enabling secure, automated, low-observable connectivity that preserves stealth while improving mission responsiveness and survivable command-and-control (Picture source: U.S. DoW).

The operational logic behind the procurement is simple: submarines win by not being found, but they still have to receive tasking, share time-sensitive intelligence, and coordinate fires with the joint force. Every minute at periscope depth, every antenna exposure, and every poorly managed radio-frequency emission becomes a potential detection opportunity for adversaries building denser anti-submarine warfare networks. L3Harris framed the contract around that central tension, stressing that the ability for submarines to operate undetected is vital to the Navy’s advantage, while positioning the delivered systems as highly reliable and optimized for low observability.

Although the press release does not enumerate each line item inside the “shipset,” L3Harris’ published product architecture for integrated maritime communications provides a clear view of the capability being industrialized. The company’s MarCom IP-Integrated Communications Core is built to integrate IP and legacy shipboard communications into an open-architecture foundation for tactical networks, covering switching, conferencing, call processing, protocol translation, and external system interfacing. Critically for submarine operations, MarCom is designed to be radio-agnostic and to support communications planning and execution across an external communications suite, while interfacing baseband traffic to shipboard networks and delivering voice services platform-wide.

From a tactical standpoint, the MarCom design emphasis on remote and automated control, modular rugged packaging, and interoperability across VoIP, ISDN, and legacy POTS-style systems supports two submarine imperatives: reduce the number of watchstanders needed to manage communications, and compress the time required to shift between communications plans as the mission evolves. MarCom’s non-blocking architecture and support for centralized or distributed configurations are also relevant in a combat survivability context, where internal damage or partial system degradation cannot be allowed to paralyze command connectivity inside the boat.

Complementing the core is the Symphony automation layer, which enables unmanned radio room operation by allowing a remote operator to activate a communications plan via a browser-like interface. Symphony then configures switch and router connections for voice and data terminals, cryptography, radios, baseband routing, and RF distribution, including setting equipment modes and frequencies. In practice, this kind of automation is less about more bandwidth than it is about executing emission-controlled communications quickly and correctly under stress, while minimizing operator workload and the probability of configuration error during high-tempo operations.

Symphony’s maritime configuration also highlights spectrum, frequency, and emission control management as a defined capability, alongside automatic failure detection and correction and decision assistance features intended to improve mission responsiveness. For submarines, emission control is not an abstract doctrine; it is a survivability mechanism. The ability to manage RF distribution intelligently and to transition between preplanned communications configurations rapidly can reduce time spent in vulnerable geometries and shorten the window in which an adversary might correlate intermittent transmissions with a contact.

At the operator interface level, L3Harris’ K2 tactical terminal illustrates how these systems translate into crew-level execution. The K2 is designed for installation on platforms ranging from submarines to large decks, providing simultaneous access to multiple circuits, including radio networks and secure voice. It supports traditional tactical voice functions such as intercom, interior nets, and announcing and alarm systems, while also enabling IP-based data features. Security and separation are treated as architectural requirements: the K2 uses SRTP and AES-256 for network security and supports red and black voice communications with proper isolation, plus a dual-homed, failover-capable design.

The submarine classes receiving these shipsets sit at the center of U.S. undersea operations and deterrence. Virginia-class SSNs are optimized to hunt submarines and surface combatants, strike land targets, and conduct intelligence and special operations support across both deep-water and littoral environments. The class incorporates photonics masts in place of traditional periscopes, supports special operations forces with a reconfigurable torpedo room and a lockout trunk, and has been iteratively upgraded for payload growth. Block III introduced the Large Aperture Bow array to improve passive detection while reducing lifecycle cost, and later blocks incorporate Virginia Payload Tubes and, with Block V, the Virginia Payload Module, adding four large-diameter payload tubes. Each VPM tube can carry seven Tomahawk missiles, adding 28 additional missiles and restoring volume for future payloads.

Columbia-class SSBNs, by contrast, are designed to remain hidden and survivable as the Navy’s future sea-based strategic deterrent, replacing the Ohio-class and extending continuous deterrent patrol capability into the 2080s. The class will use an electric-drive propulsion system, carry 16 Trident II D5 (LE) missiles, and is structured to meet a patrol-ready requirement no later than October 2030. In that mission set, communications are both essential and dangerous: SSBNs must receive authenticated strategic messages reliably, but any unnecessary exposure or emissions risk undermines the very survivability that makes deterrence credible.

Industrial implications are as significant as the technical ones. A full-rate production award from Electric Boat signals that the Navy and prime contractor are locking in a standardized communications baseline across two critical submarine lines, with support extending to future Columbia platforms and potentially allied navies. In an era when undersea competition increasingly hinges on who can sense first, decide faster, and strike without being detected, modernized communications that are integrated, automated, and emission-aware are not accessories. They are enablers of stealth, lethality, and strategic assurance across the undersea force.