Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries announced that it has received a contract
to build a 10th Virginia-class submarine for the U.S. Navy.
Viewers may note that in 2019, the U.S Navy has awarded its
largest-ever shipbuilding contract to General Dynamics Electric Boat.
The Virginia class is built through an industrial arrangement designed
to sustain both General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Newport News,
the only two U.S. shipyards capable of building nuclear-powered submarines.
The deal had the provision for the US Navy to add a 10th boat and this option has been exercised.
The addition has bought the total cost of the original contract to $24.1 billion.
Jason Ward vice president of Virginia-class submarine construction
at Newport News Shipbuilding said, "We are pleased that Congress supported
the restoration of funding for the 10th Virginia-class boat in Block V"
He added in the press release, "We look forward to building
and delivering the final boat of the block that maintains production at two submarines per year
and continues to stabilize the industrial base,"
Construction of the vessel, which has not yet been named, will begin by 2024.
In this video Defense Updates analyses why the 10 Block V Virginia-class
attack submarines of the US Navy are good enough pin down the entire Chinese Navy?
Let’s get started.
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The Virginia class sometimes referred to as SSN-774 class, is a class of nuclear-powered
fast attack submarines in service with the United States Navy. Virginia class is designed
to replace older Los Angeles-class submarines, many of which have already been decommissioned.
The Virginia class was intended in part as a less expensive alternative to the Seawolf-class
submarines whose production run was stopped after just three boats had been completed.
The submarines of Virginia class are designed for a broad spectrum
of open-ocean and littoral missions. Their primary purpose is to take out the
enemy's surface combatants and submarines and the secondary task is to execute land-attack missions.
The Virginia class ushered in many technological advances in submarine construction.
It is the first to use photonic sensors instead of a traditional periscope.
Block V will see many upgrades, the most important of which is the Virginia Payload Module or VPM.
The first boat in Block V, SSN 802, is currently under construction but doesn't VPM.
The next boats starting from 803 will have VPM.
An 85-foot section will be added to 9 new Virginia submarines.
This will add more capabilities like enabling them to have VPM,
carry more weapons and deliver special operations forces.
The addition of the section is expected to increase the length from 377 ft to 460 ft
and displacement from around 7,800 tons to 10,200 tons.
All of the boats will have an upgraded acoustics suite when compared to Block IV.
Virginia class Block V will be even more deadly when compared to previous variants.
These can be configured with the combination of the following weapons, based on mission.
1. Four 533 mm torpedo tubes for the Mk-48 torpedo. There is a capacity to carry up to 26
Mk-48 torpedoes in the weapon's chamber. These torpedoes have a range in excess of
50 km or 31 miles and can be used to take out enemy submarines and surface vessels.
2. With the addition of VPM, a total of 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles can be
accommodated - 28 in VPM & 12 in the sub’s bow. 3. The boats will also be able to lay
different types of mines including the MK-60 CAPTOR Encapsulated Torpedo mines.
4. An integral lock-out/lock-in chamber is incorporated into the hull for special operations.
The chamber can host a mini-submarine, such as Northrop Grumman’s Advanced SEALS
Delivery System that can be used to transport special warfare forces such as Navy SEAL teams.
While Tomahawk has been around for a long time now, the latest Block
5 variant of the missile is a major upgrade.
Block V will see crucial upgrades to the missile’s communication and navigation systems.
This will make it hard for the enemy to jam the missile with electronic countermeasures.
This will mean that more missiles will be able to navigate unhindered to the target and hit them.
Raytheon’s Tomahawk program manager told reporters at an event at the missile plant in Tucson, Ariz.,
that the navigation system upgrades will ensure the missile can strike targets
even if GPS is taken down.
As of now, Block 5 will have 2 variants - Va & Vb.
The Block Va variant is called Maritime Strike. It will have a new seeker capable
of hitting a moving target. So, it could be used to target a rival's surface combatants.
The target information in the variant could be updated in flight.
The warhead will be geared towards destroying enemy warships.
This is a game-changer since missile the which has a range of around 1000 miles or
1600 km will be able to take down enemy surface vessels from a standoff distance.
People's Liberation Army Navy has a fleet of conventionally powered
as well as nuclear powered submarines.
There are 4 Nuclear-powered submarines - Type 092 & Type 094
are Ballistic Missile subs whereas Type 091 submarine & Type 093 submarine attack subs.
The conventionally powered submarines consist of Yuan-Class, Kilo-class, Song-Class & Ming-Class
The surface fleet consists of aircraft carriers, destroyers,
amphibious dock landing ships, stealth missile boats.
While the fleet is impressive when it comes to quantity, the quality has a lot to be desired.
The Chinese subs are noisy when compared to American and European ones.
Also, the ability of the Chinese surface fleet to detect the Virginia class submarine is suspect.
U.S Navy has a lot of expertise in planning and execution which will help it to pin down the
Chinese assets using Block V Virginia Class submarines and knock them off one by one.