The Pentagon has signed $76.6 billion contracts with General Dynamics Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding for the construction of Virginia and Columbia-class nuclear submarines, as well as the modernization of shipyards.
elchi reports that this is written by the Axios publication.
This concerns multi-year contracts that are significant not only for the US Navy but also for the AUKUS partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the States, as well as for the maintenance of America’s nuclear arsenal.
The package includes five Columbia-class and nine Virginia-class submarines, but the program itself is already facing serious delays.
According to the publication, the first Columbia-class submarine is only 66% complete, while the second and third submarines are approximately 35% and 10% complete, respectively. In the US, it is acknowledged that a shortage of skilled labor, supply chain disruptions, and chronic problems in the shipbuilding industry remain the main delaying factors.
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