WASHINGTON – A $22.2 billion block-buy contract for nine more SSN 774 Virginia-class submarines with an option for a tenth sub was announced Tuesday by the US Navy. Prime contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) and major subcontractor Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding are the primary beneficiaries of the new deal.
Charlie McCullough, the director of maritime business development at BAE Systems, discusses the 10-tube version of the Virginia Payload Module that will equip future Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines with a greater range of capabilities from strike to reconnaissance to cargo with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was conducted at the Navy League’s 2019 Sea Air Space conference and tradesheow near Washington where our coverage was sponsored by GE Marine, Huntington Ingalls Industries and Leonardo DRS.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., the chairman of the House Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittee, discusses the outlook for defense spending now that Democrats control the House, naval readiness implications if President Trump declares a national emergency to build a border wall with military construction funding, whether more subs will be built with the $4 billion savings from the deal to buy two Ford-class carriers at the same time, the Navy’s shifting statements on 355-ships and more with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian on Capitol Hill. We spoke with Courtney, who represents New England’s largest military installation, the Navy’s submarine base in New London, on the sidelines of the Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition.