Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) awarded General Dyamics’ [GD] Electric Boat (GDEB) a $269 million modification on April 19 to build 42 more missile tubes for the upcoming Columbia-class and UK Dreadnought-class submarines.
The award covers the missile tubes as well as missile tube outfitting material. This is part of the joint U.S.-U.K. Common Missile Compartment program, with both countries using a shared missile compartment in their respective next class of nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs).
GD previously awarded BWX Technologies [BWXT] three contracts in 2014, 2016, and 2017 worth about $75 million to build 26 tubes, which is about half of the missile tubes GD has ordered. BWXT is expected to finish the tubes by 2021 (Defense Daily, Nov. 8, 2018).
Last year, BWXT made expensive mistakes on 12 missile tubes for the Columbia submarines. It previously reported fixing the welding on the tubes cost about $40 million for the company.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report earlier this month revealed the welding issues consumed 15 of the 23 months of schedule margin built in to the Common Missile Compartment program (Defense Daily, April 8).
This latest mod will be performed in Quonset Point, R.I., and York, Pa., and is expected to be finished by May 2028.
In all, $49.5 million is FY 2019 Navy shipbuilding and foreign military sales (FMS) funds were obligated at award time and will not expire at the end of this fiscal year.
The Navy is replacing 12 Ohio-class SSBNs with 10 Columbia-class submarines starting in the early 2030s.