New US nuclear-missile submarines hobbled by billions in growing costs and delays
- US congressional auditors have reviewed dozens of current and future defence programmes
- Delay risks also reported in drone and helicopter programmes, next-generation presidential aircraft
The US Navy’s two newest submarine programmes have been hampered by growing costs, poor contractor performance and delays in the last year, according to an assessment by congressional auditors.
Costs for the 12-vessel Columbia-class, the US’s next nuclear-missile submarine, have grown by US$3.4 billion to a projected US$112 billion before the first planned deployment in 2031, the Government Accountability Office said in its latest annual report on major US weapons systems.
Similarly, over the last year work on the latest model Virginia-class attack submarine, which shares some of the same workforce, “fell further behind schedule, and construction costs continued to grow above original targets due to overall higher workforce demand and additional factors such as correspondingly less experienced workers,” the agency said.
The Columbia class will replace the fleet of 14 Ohio-class submarines that carry Trident nuclear missiles and is envisioned as the front line of US nuclear deterrence strategy into the late 21st century. The subs will carry one leg of the so-called nuclear triad along with land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and air-launched weapons.
The 252-page GAO assessment – the most comprehensive evaluation of the Defence Department’s weapons portfolio – reviewed 40 major current defence acquisition programmes, four future major programmes and 19 middle-tier projects.
The submarine setbacks are among the most telling in the report released Wednesday. Both submarines are built jointly by General Dynamics Corp and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc.