An artist's rendering of the future Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. The Navy recently awarded a $2.2 billion modification to a previously awarded contract that is designed to speed procurement and construction of the Columbia-class submarines. (U.S. Navy illustration)
A $2.3 billion Navy contract is intended to speed up the purchase and construction of five of the service’s newest class of ballistic missile submarines, a program plagued by cost overruns and delays.
The billion-dollar modification earlier this month to a previous contract awarded to General Dynamics Electric Boat is designed to push the Columbia-class submarine program forward in alignment with department acquisition rules, the Pentagon said in a statement Monday.
Ballistic missile submarines are considered to be the most survivable leg of the nation’s nuclear triad, which includes intercontinental missiles and bombs deliverable by aircraft.
The Navy wants to build 12 Columbia-class submarines to replace the service’s aging Ohio-class fleet at an estimated cost of about $126.4 billion, according to a Sept. 25 Congressional Research Service report.
USS District of Columbia and USS Wisconsin, the lead and second boats of the class respectively, are under construction. The Navy plans to procure a third vessel in the class, USS Groton, next year.
But delivery of District of Columbia has been pushed back 17 months, to 2029. Its cost is estimated at $16.1 billion, according to the CRS report.
Construction on the boat started in 2020, with delivery originally expected in 2027. Service officials have said District of Columbia would be on deterrent patrol by late 2030 or 2031.
Wisconsin, whose keel was laid in August, and Groton are expected on schedule in 2032 and 2034, respectively, a Navy official told Congress in April, according to a USNI News report at the time.
Columbia program delays mostly are due to challenges in design, materials and quality, the Government Accountability Office said in a 2023 report.
It warned that the Navy didn’t have the statistical analysis needed to ensure that the Columbia-class submarines would be ready on time to fulfill their nuclear deterrent role.
A delay in putting the first submarine into service and the resulting domino effect on construction of future boats could leave a critical national defense gap as the Navy seeks to replace older Ohio-class submarines, the GAO said at the time.
The first of the Navy’s 14 Ohio-class boats reaches the end of its 42-year service life in 2027, with the remainder reaching the milestone at the rate of about one a year until 2040, the CRS report stated.
The report echoed the GAO findings, saying the delay on the first submarine of the Columbia-class was a critical oversight issue for Congress.
“As mentioned earlier, this estimated delay is part of a larger situation of delivery delays on multiple Navy shipbuilding programs due to shipyard workforce challenges, supply chain challenges, and other issues,” the CRS report stated.
The Columbia program’s top priority status could also negatively impact efforts to build Virginia-class attack submarines in desired numbers, the agency said.
Virginia-class submarines already are in service, but the Navy plans to add to the fleet, constructing about two a year. The Navy hopes to purchase one Columbia-class submarine a year beginning in 2026.
