{"id":40709,"date":"2019-04-08T13:00:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/08\/with-the-us-navys-top-shipbuilding-priority-on-deck-red-flags-fly\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:19:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:19:44","slug":"with-the-us-navys-top-shipbuilding-priority-on-deck-red-flags-fly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2019\/04\/08\/with-the-us-navys-top-shipbuilding-priority-on-deck-red-flags-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"With the US Navy\u2019s top shipbuilding priority on deck, red flags fly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 On Capitol Hill for a breakfast talk in 2015, the chief of naval operations\u2019 director of undersea warfare could not have been clearer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy had waited until the last possible moment to start working on a new class of ballistic missile submarine to replace the early 1980s Ohio-class boats, and there just won\u2019t be time for lengthy delays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have effectively skipped an entire SSBN generation,\u201d then-Rear Adm. Joseph Tofalo told the crowd, \u201cbut in doing so we have consumed the entire margin for error.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was a familiar talking point. The Navy has been pounding the table for years now about the need to move out on Columbia, a crucial part of the country\u2019s nuclear deterrent triad of missiles, bombers and ballistic missile submarines. But the Navy has always acknowledged the tremendous challenge it faces in getting its first Columbia-class boomer procured, constructed, tested and fielded in time for its first patrol slated for 2031. The service is planning to buy the first ship in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recent delays <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/04\/04\/the-us-navy-seeking-savings-shakes-up-its-plans-for-more-lethal-attack-submarines\/\" target=\"_blank\">and a shakeup in the Virginia-class buying profile<\/a>, along with a high-profile quality control issue <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2018\/08\/06\/the-us-navys-top-acquisition-priority-stumbles-out-of-the-gate-after-bad-welds-discovered-in-missile-tubes\/\" target=\"_blank\">right out of the gate on the missile tubes<\/a> destined for Columbia have raised red flags and concerns about the submarine building enterprise and its ability to handle the mammoth $115 billion program without delays and major overruns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The consequence of significant delays to the program is a drop in total number of SSBN\u2019s below what the Navy says is imperative to maintain continuous strategic deterrent patrols as the Ohio-class boats run out of nuclear fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service has downplayed concerns, saying that the delays in Virginia deliveries, which will be between four to seven months for the foreseeable future, are measured against accelerated construction timeline goals. Furthermore, the quality control issues identified with the missile tubes fabricated by BWXT, Inc., were identified are being corrected, leaving the Navy still 11 months ahead of schedule for the tubes.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2019\/03\/20\/late-is-the-new-normal-for-virginia-class-attack-boats\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/indiana.JPG_af5631.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Late is the new normal for Virginia-class attack boats<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">It\u2019s a problem the Navy will have to address as it prepares to buy the 10-ship Block V Virginia-class boats and begins construction on the vital Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the Navy has also injected new uncertainty into the schedule by shaking up the buying profile for the Block Five Virginia class, Defense News reported April 3. The service is shifting from its plan of adding the 84-foot section to nine of the 10 planned Virginias in Block Five to adding an 11th boat at the last minute and canceling one of so-called Virginia Payload Modules. (The VPM is designed to triple the Virginia\u2019s Tomahawk strike missile capacity.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nuclear submarines are constructed in a joint effort between Huntington Ingalls Newport News in Virginia and General Dynamics Electric Boat in Connecticut. Both have labored to increase their workforce and prime a diminished supplier base for increased Virginia-class production and the start of the Columbia-class program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Concerns inside industry and among experts are growing because of fears that the combined effect of compounding delays, as well as the Navy\u2019s injecting new uncertainty, could increase the chances for further delays in the Virginia program and ripple into the strategically vital Columbia class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several sources familiar with industry concerns who spoke on background said adding the third boat as well as shaking up the buying profile for Virginia Payload Module could have unintended consequences as the yards try to simultaneously support normal Virginia class construction, construction of the much larger Virginia Payload Module ships and the Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those worries get to the core of what makes a successful shipbuilding program, said Dan Gour\u00e9, a former Bush Administration defense official and military analyst with the Arlington-based Lexington Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLike there is one rule in real estate (location, location, location), there is one rule in building ships: Predictability, predictability, predictability,\u201d Gour\u00e9 said. \u201cAnd they are messing with that now, for the first time in quite a while. And that makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Gour\u00e9 said the late-in-the-game nature of the shift in buying profile is particularly concerning, especially just a year before they plan to kick off construction of Columbia, because of the connected nature of the Virginia and Columbia programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThese yards are integrated,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you start messing with the other program on a short-notice basis, you risk the yards being able to deliver on time and at cost for multiple programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo, for the Navy, Columbia is their number one priority. But you are also messing with the other programs. That makes it at least of concern that if there is a problem with Columbia that industry won\u2019t be able to transfer the resources \u2013 people, material, whatever it is \u2013 to fix what needs to be fixed because you have upset the timelines of those other programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn a sense you risk the worst of both worlds: You risk further perturbations in the Virginia class, and at the same time risk not being able to get Columbia out on time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Late change<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A defense source speaking on background said the third boat in 2020 was a late addition by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and in public testimony the Navy has acknowledged that the service was until recently planning for a 10-boat block buy for Block V.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That set up a strange circumstance because the Navy usually buys Virginias over three years with two years of advanced procurement ahead of each hull. But the third boat in 2020 is being bought all in one year, which the Navy\u2019s acquisition boss said in recent testimony meant the Navy wouldn\u2019t be able to start construction on the boat until 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">James Geurts, the Navy\u2019s head of Research, Development and Acquisition, told the House Armed Service Committee\u2019s seapower subcommittee that keeping the risk to Columbia low was part of the reason to put the boat in the budget now because it gives industry time to hire and work the supplier base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe other thing that\u2019s important is \u2026 keeping in mind Columbia coming along, and \u2026 by loading it now [it] gives us the most time to figure out how to use that efficiently as a risk reduction element for Columbia \u2014 i.e. we can get some of the additional workforce trained up, get some more of the supplier base and get some of the supplier builds out of the way before Columbia gets here,\u201d Geurts said. \u201cSo, we are working to put all of those together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether the workforce and supplier base can handle the increased demands and perturbations in the schedule is an open question. The private shipyards in charge of construction Virginia and Columbia are also being newly tasked with submarine maintenance, jobs that are falling months behind schedule in part because of a slow supply chain, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.usni.org\/2019\/03\/26\/navy-lack-submarine-parts-slowing-maintenance-new-construction\" target=\"_blank\">according a recent report<\/a> in USNI News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think it\u2019s a combination of getting a skilled workforce up and operating, getting the planning available across both private and public yards to the level of detail needed, and then it is contending for material \u2013 because as we bring these maintenance availabilities in, you\u2019re contending for material that\u2019s also going to Virginia and now Columbia (ballistic missile submarine program),\u201d Geurts told USNI News. \u201cSo, we\u2019ve got to look at it as a whole ecosystem, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>The bad years<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ecosystem for submarine parts is in trouble, something the Navy has known for more than two decades, said Bryan Clark, a retired submarine officer and analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, something that has become more evident with the delays in the Virginia class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt does not bode well if they are already seeing delays in the Virginia program with building two per year,\u201d Clark said. \u201cWithin the supplier base there are a lot of sole-source and single-source suppliers who provide parts for Virginia, but also for Columbia. One of the unintended consequences of using a lot of common components between Virginia and Columbia is you have to rely on the same suppliers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy likes common parts and components because it cuts down on specialized training, maintenance time and costs, but if the supplier is not sized to take on the level of work the Navy wants, it can cause delays to creep into the system, Clark explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Furthermore, the suppliers may be hesitant to invest in expanding their business because within recent memory the Navy has cut back on submarine building. Some suppliers remember the lean times and don\u2019t want to be caught out on a limb when Columbia wraps up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn the 1990s we suffered a reduction in sub building with the Seawolf debacle,\u201d Clark said, referring to a submarine program that was slashed from 29 to three hulls because of costs. \u201cThen we moved to Virginia and that had a lot of problems starting out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere was a five- or six-year period when we weren\u2019t building a lot of submarines, and a lot of suppliers went out of business. The suppliers that survived right-sized their business to meet the current demand, and these companies are saying: \u2018Do I expand now when down the road there could be another issue like Seawolf?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a question the Navy is going to have to tackle if it hopes to field Columbia on time, Clark said, but it was not an issue that was unexpected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is something that was always going to happen as the Navy ramped up,\u201d Clark said. \u201cAnd the Navy is starting to see it with building two Virginias per year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are concerns about the submarine-building enterprise and its ability to handle a $103 billion program plagued by delays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":66503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,12,16,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361],"class_list":["post-40709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-industry","category-naval","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"Y3GSNX2NVFEK5ILN3V5V32ZFKI","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2019\/04\/08\/with-the-us-navys-top-shipbuilding-priority-on-deck-red-flags-fly\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>With the US Navy\u2019s top shipbuilding priority on deck, red flags fly - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are concerns about the submarine-building enterprise and its ability to handle a $103 billion program plagued by delays.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2019\/04\/08\/with-the-us-navys-top-shipbuilding-priority-on-deck-red-flags-fly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"With the US Navy\u2019s top shipbuilding priority on deck, red flags fly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are concerns about the submarine-building enterprise and its ability to handle a $103 billion program plagued by delays.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2019\/04\/08\/with-the-us-navys-top-shipbuilding-priority-on-deck-red-flags-fly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-08T13:00:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T23:19:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David B. 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