The US Navy on Monday awarded its most expensive shipbuilding contract ever, more than $22.2 billion worth of the world's most advanced submarines.
The massive contract for nine nuclear-powered, Virginia class attack submarines comes just months after the head of the US Navy in the Pacific warned of a massive Chinese naval buildup and his trouble in getting enough submarines to counter it.
The deal "marks the US Navy's latest response to China's growing military power and aggressive actions in the Western Pacific," said Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center.
Also Read:
"The PLAN (Chinese Navy) is getting better and larger so the US Navy has to respond," he said. "It doesn't make China an enemy, but China's actions do bear watching."
Virginia class submarines are the US Navy's key multi-mission undersea platform.
They are capable of fighting other submarines, surface ships and land targets, as well as conducting special operations including intelligence gathering and reconnaissance.
Eighteen of the subs are already in the Navy's fleet with another 10 in various stages of construction.
But the nine new subs will represent a substantial upgrade over their predecessors in the class.
The Navy also has an option for a 10th sub in the contract, which would bring its value to $24 billion.
'A generational leap' in capability
Rear Adm. David Goggins, the Navy's program executive officer for submarines, called them "a generational leap in submarine capability for the Navy" in a statement on the Navy's website Monday.
They'll be bigger, displacing 10,200 tons compared to 7,800 on the current subs; they'll be longer, 460 feet compared to 377 feet; and they'll have substantial more firepower, with the ability to launch strikes with 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles, compared to just 12 on the current ships.
The subs, which can generate their own water and oxygen, can stay submerged for months at a time."
Our submarine force is fundamental to the power and reach of our integrated naval force," said acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas B. Modly. "Today's announcement affirms our commitment to the future strength of our nation, undersea and around the world."
US Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, hailed the new contract.
"These next generation submarines provide our forces with a distinct national security advantage. They are an unmatched tool for deterrence," Reed said in a statement.
The submarines will be built by prime contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat, based in Groton, Connecticut, with subcontractor Huntington Ingallls Industries.
Sen. Reed said the contract would ensure a stable workload for the 4,000 workers at an Electric Boat shipyard in Rhode Island for years to come.
While the nine new subs will be additions to the fleet -- the first of the Virginia class was delivered in 2004 -- they will be needed to replace some of the Navy's aging Los Angeles-class attack subs, which first entered the fleet in the 1970s.
The new submarines are scheduled for delivery between 2025 and 2029, the Navy said.
