F-22Raptor
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This post has been updated with an additional statement from the Navy and General Dyanmics.
The U.S. Navy awarded General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII $76.6 billion in contracts on Wednesday for the next batch of attack and ballistic missile submarines after a nearly three-year delay.
The award is split between $42.1 billion for nine Block VI of the Virginia-class attack boats and material for a tenth boat, $29.5 billion for five Build II Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines that will recapitalize the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad and $5 billion for workforce improvements between EB and HII, a Navy official confirmed to USNI News on Wednesday.
“The Block VI award includes previously announced material awards (including long-lead-time material and economic ordering quantity material),” reads the July 29 Pentagon contract award. “The announcement also includes previously awarded investments in shipbuilder productivity efforts.”
Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding team build both the Columbia and Virginia-class boats. HII builds the bows, sterns and other modules while EB builds the central barrel of the submarines that contains the reactor and, in the case of Columbia, the tubes that contain the Trident II D5 nuclear ballistic missiles. The Block VI Virginias will be the second set of boats to be built with the Virginia Payload Module configured to carry Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles or the Navy’s future hypersonic long-range strike missile.
“This historic investment underscores the Department’s continued commitment to undersea superiority and the recapitalization of our nuclear triad,” Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher, director submarine programs said in a Navy statement.
The contract comes after several years of delays as the Navy and submarine builders struggled to reach a deal over the increasing costs to build the boats since the COVID-19 pandemic, USNI News previously reported.
“These important contract modifications provide Electric Boat and our suppliers with the demand certainty we need to continue investing in capacity and hiring the workforce necessary to ensure we deliver these important national security assets on schedule,” said Mark Rayha, president of General Dynamics Electric Boat in a statement.
“We are committed to building the nuclear-powered submarines that protect our nation,” Kari Wilkinson, the president of HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding, said in a statement. “These contracts provide the American shipbuilding industrial base the opportunity to demonstrate that commitment in a meaningful way and we are honored to serve our customer and our country.”
The delays for the attack boats stretch back to 2022, when the Navy’s negotiations with General Dynamics for the last two Block V attack boats stalled for 18 months over a missile insurance issue under the Biden administration. While the indemnification questions were eventually resolved, the delayed contract had cascading effects on contracts for the future boats.
After addressing indemnification, the Navy and shipbuilders struggled for years to reach a deal over workforce wages that ballooned during the inflation spike during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A major factor causing the boats’ rising price tags is workforce shortages. Many experienced shipbuilders retired during the pandemic. In recruiting and retaining talent, submarine builders HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding and General Dynamics Electric Boat must also contend with other industries like food service, which pay competitive wages not much lower than those of shipyard workers.
The Navy and the shipyards reached a deal for the last two Block V boats after two years of negotiations. In April of 2025, the service awarded $18.5 billion in contracts for future attack boats Baltimore (SSN-812), Atlanta (SSN-813) and additional workforce wage support.
The deal for the Block V boats opened the door for the Navy, GD and HII to begin negotiations for the follow-on Block VI Virginia boats and Build II Columbia submarines.
In Fiscal Year 2025, Congress appropriated $3.6 billion for Potomac (SSN-814), as well as $3.7 billion for advanced procurement for boats in fiscal years 2026 and 2027.
The Build II Columbias will start with Groton(SSBN-828), the third boat in the class. The class of 12 could cost an estimated $128 billion, based on Navy budget estimates. First-in-class District of Columbia is set to deliver to the Navy by March of 2029, and the follow-on Wisconsin (SSBN-827) in April of 2030, according to Navy budget estimates.
Following the annoucement, Rep Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) who has championed the Virginia and Columbia submarine programs praised the awards.
“These Block VI and Build II construction contracts, which Congress authorized in 2023 and 2025 respectively, provide a surging, unwavering demand signal to the entire submarine industrial base. Together, the Block VI and Build II contracts represent the biggest shipbuilding award in modern American history,” Courtney said. “These multiyear commitments by Congress and the Navy secure work at submarine shipyards and thousands of supply chain companies well into the late 2030s, further boosted by the AUKUS security agreement and the sale of three in-service Virginia-class submarines to Australia in the 2030s.”
