Submarine Industrial  Base Council

From Scout Warrior: Navy to Complete First Prototypes of Virginia Payload Modules – Triples Submarine Firepower

The Navy’s Virginia Payload Modules Will Triple the Virginia-Class Attack Submarine Missile-Firing Ability. First Prototypes Already Underway.

The Navy will soon finish initial prototyping of new weapons tubes for its Virginia-Class submarines designed to massively increase missile firepower, bring the platform well into future decades and increase the range of payloads launched or fired from the attack boats.

The new missile tubes, called the Virginia Payload Modules, will rev up the submarines’ Tomahawk missile firing ability from 12 to 40 by adding an additional 28 payload tubes – more than tripling the offensive strike capability of the platforms.

Prototyping of the new submarines amounts to early construction, meaning the missile tubes now being engineered and assembled with be those which will ultimately integrate into the completed boat. In essence, construction and metal bending for elements of what will become the first VPM are underway.

“Virginia Payload Module prototyping efforts are underway, with the first set of payload tubes under construction. Design products are on track to support FY19 construction. Cost and schedule performance remain within parameters established at the outset of the program,” Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman William Couch told Scout Warrior.

Increasing undersea strike capability is a key element of the strategic calculus for the Navy as it continues to navigate its way into an increasingly high-tech and threatening global environment; potential adversaries are not only rapidly developing new quieting weapons and sonar detection technologies but also fielding long-range, precision-guided anti-ship missiles designed to target surface ships at long ranges.

Read the full story here.

Back to Recent News

©2024 Submarine Industrial Base Council. All Rights Reserved.