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With the stroke of a pen, the Navy's acquisition executive has increased the size of the Virginia-class submarine program, expanding the official acquisition target from 30 to 48 boats, adding a $68 billion obligation to future Pentagon budgets and making the total cost of the nuclear-powered attack submarine project second only to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
On Feb. 13, acting Navy acquisition executive Allison Stiller approved an update to the Virginia-class submarine acquisition baseline program, "extending the program of record from 30 to 48," according to the Navy's fiscal year 2018 budget request. The change, which hasn't been previously reported, marks a 60 percent increase in the program's formal acquisition objective.
That change lifts the total cost of the SSN-774 program to about $162 billion, up from $104 billion last year, according to Navy documents. Last year, the Navy was planning to buy 33 boats, operating under a provisional extension of the 30-boat program that tacked $11 billion on to the total program cost. The Navy's March 2016 estimate before that change was $93.2 billion.
The service's FY-18 budget request indicates a revised total procurement cost of $155.3 billion; the service has previously reported $6.6 billion in sunk research and development costs.
This addition of 18 Virginia-class submarines would fulfill a target the Navy set in 2012, but would only get the service halfway to a more ambitious goal recently advanced by the chief of naval operations.
The Navy's 2012 force structure assessment called for the service to procure 48 attack submarines as part of a 308-ship fleet; by contrast, the service's 30-year shipbuilding plan sent to Congress in 2016 envisioned procuring a total of 44 attack boats.
Meanwhile, in December, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson advanced findings of a 2016 fleet structure assessment that called for 66 attack submarines, another 18 boats.
In June, the industry team building the Virginia-class boats -- Electric Boat of Groton, CT, and Newport News Shipbuilding of Virginia -- launched the Indiana (SSN 789), the 16th boat in the class, into the James River in Virginia to begin final outfitting, testing and crew certification.
The first 28 Virginia-class boats are currently either purchased or under contract, including 10 boats being procured as part of a five-year acquisition deal that began in FY-14 and concludes in FY-18. The Navy has been buying Virginia-class boats since 1998.
By expanding the program of record well beyond 30 boats, the Navy paved the way for what it hopes will be a fourth multiyear procurement of the Virginia-class submarine beginning in FY-19. The service last month submitted an FY-18 legislative proposal to Congress seeking permission to begin negotiating another multiyear deal beginning in FY-19 for 10 boats worth a potential $32.6 billion.
Lawmakers have drafted legislation approving such negotiations, and authorized the Navy to enter into multiyear contracts for even more boats -- as many as 13.
The Navy's FY-18 budget request seeks $5.2 billion for the last two submarines of the current multiyear contract. The request forecasts buying two Virginia-class submarines annually through FY-22, allocating $5.3 billion for the program in FY-18, $7.3 billion in FY-19, $7.3 billion in FY-20, $6.7 billion in FY-21 and $5.4 billion in FY-22.
https://insidedefense.com/daily-new...future-spending-virginia-class-program-record
On Feb. 13, acting Navy acquisition executive Allison Stiller approved an update to the Virginia-class submarine acquisition baseline program, "extending the program of record from 30 to 48," according to the Navy's fiscal year 2018 budget request. The change, which hasn't been previously reported, marks a 60 percent increase in the program's formal acquisition objective.
That change lifts the total cost of the SSN-774 program to about $162 billion, up from $104 billion last year, according to Navy documents. Last year, the Navy was planning to buy 33 boats, operating under a provisional extension of the 30-boat program that tacked $11 billion on to the total program cost. The Navy's March 2016 estimate before that change was $93.2 billion.
The service's FY-18 budget request indicates a revised total procurement cost of $155.3 billion; the service has previously reported $6.6 billion in sunk research and development costs.
This addition of 18 Virginia-class submarines would fulfill a target the Navy set in 2012, but would only get the service halfway to a more ambitious goal recently advanced by the chief of naval operations.
The Navy's 2012 force structure assessment called for the service to procure 48 attack submarines as part of a 308-ship fleet; by contrast, the service's 30-year shipbuilding plan sent to Congress in 2016 envisioned procuring a total of 44 attack boats.
Meanwhile, in December, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson advanced findings of a 2016 fleet structure assessment that called for 66 attack submarines, another 18 boats.
In June, the industry team building the Virginia-class boats -- Electric Boat of Groton, CT, and Newport News Shipbuilding of Virginia -- launched the Indiana (SSN 789), the 16th boat in the class, into the James River in Virginia to begin final outfitting, testing and crew certification.
The first 28 Virginia-class boats are currently either purchased or under contract, including 10 boats being procured as part of a five-year acquisition deal that began in FY-14 and concludes in FY-18. The Navy has been buying Virginia-class boats since 1998.
By expanding the program of record well beyond 30 boats, the Navy paved the way for what it hopes will be a fourth multiyear procurement of the Virginia-class submarine beginning in FY-19. The service last month submitted an FY-18 legislative proposal to Congress seeking permission to begin negotiating another multiyear deal beginning in FY-19 for 10 boats worth a potential $32.6 billion.
Lawmakers have drafted legislation approving such negotiations, and authorized the Navy to enter into multiyear contracts for even more boats -- as many as 13.
The Navy's FY-18 budget request seeks $5.2 billion for the last two submarines of the current multiyear contract. The request forecasts buying two Virginia-class submarines annually through FY-22, allocating $5.3 billion for the program in FY-18, $7.3 billion in FY-19, $7.3 billion in FY-20, $6.7 billion in FY-21 and $5.4 billion in FY-22.
https://insidedefense.com/daily-new...future-spending-virginia-class-program-record
