Backlogged US Defense Industry Crimps Bid for More Attack Subs

The US submarine industrial base is unable to build more than one Virginia-class attack submarine a year and needs significant overhaul to ramp up to produce two of the vessels by 2028, the chairman of the House defense spending panel said.

“I talked to the CEOs of all the primes and sub-contractors and they just look me in the eye and say, `'We can’t do it,’” Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) said in an exclusive interview, referring to building a second Virginia-class submarine in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are incensed over the Pentagon’s decision to request funding for only one sub next year made by General Dynamics Corp. and HII.

The Virginia attack submarine —which enjoys significant congressional support— is considered a key weapon in any potential conflict with China in the Pacific and is the centerpiece of a national security pact the US struck with Australia and the UK, known as Aukus. The Navy contends the contractors are backlogged and can’t build two boats next year.

House GOP Defense Panel Rejects Funds for Two Attack Subs

Industrial Base Boost

The spending bill the House Appropriations Defense panel approved Wednesday would back the Pentagon’s request and allot $4 billion to boost the submarine industrial base, which still lacks infrastructure, capacity and a sufficient skilled workforce. The panel also proposed funding to buy materials in advance for two submarines in the coming fiscal year, Calvert said.

House appropriator Ken Calvert says the defense industrial base needs beefing up to meet warship-building goals.

Photographer: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

“I’m in favor of building three submarines a year,” Calvert said. “It’s our strategic advantage to do so. The problem is the industrial base, the primes, the subs, are not capable of building more than one submarine a year. That is just a fact. It’s just a fact we have to deal with. I wish it wasn’t so.”

More than 130 lawmakers from both parties pressed the defense spending panel to include money for a second Virginia-class submarine as it writes the fiscal 2025 Pentagon funding measure.

Sub Supporters

The House Armed Services Committee approved its annual policy bill (H.R. 8070) that authorized some money to go toward building a second boat. The supporters’ main argument is that predictable funding for two submarines a year would stabilize the chain of suppliers. There’s concern that certain critical companies were left out of the Navy’s plan to receive money slated for advanced procurement of submarine materials.

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“This is not just a gotcha quibble,” Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) said earlier this year. “For critical supply chain companies who have millions of dollars in investment decisions to make, the sudden about-face in the Navy’s budget undermines the steady progress that Congress made to eliminate procurement instability and grow the submarine industrial base.” Courtney is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces panel, and the submarine’s biggest supporter. General Dynamics builds the subs in his district.

“The bill also does nothing to support the supply chain companies that do not receive Advanced Procurement funding, leaving many suppliers in the industrial base uncertain about future business,” Courtney said in a statement about the defense spending bill proposal.

Wanted: 140,000 New Workers

The Virginia-class submarine is armed with both torpedoes and land-attack missiles and, starting later this year, anti-ship Tomahawk cruise missiles. The subs are intended to give the US a crucial advantage in any conflict with China. Instead of the hoped-for production of two per year, the prime contractors are essentially constructing one complete submarine and 20% of the work involved in building a second sub. The Navy says it needs a production rate of two each year to adequately support Aukus, but doesn’t project hitting that goal until 2028.

Overall, delivery dates for future Virginia-class subs are running as much as 24 to 36 months past the contracted dates, according the Navy’s 45-day ship review estimates released in April.

The USS Idaho, for example, was given a ceremonial launch on March 16, complete with the breaking of a bottle of waters from Idaho lakes next to its bow. But it isn’t actually scheduled for delivery until September 2025, more than two years after a June 2023 goal outlined in 2020, according Navy budget documents.

The industrial base would have more than $7 billion this calendar year for improvements, said Calvert. Congress approved the funding in various spending bills, including $3 billion as part of a national security supplemental, he said. The money would support more than 250 critical suppliers in 35 states, infrastructure build-up and workforce hiring and training, Calvert said.

“We have to attract, hire and train 140,000 new workforce members over the next 10 years. We are short 140,000 workforce members, and we need 60,000 before the peak demand in 2027,” Calvert said, referring to the year when Navy expects the industry to be able to produce two Virginia-attack subs per year and one ballistic missile Columbia-class submarine per year.

“I got to make it very clear that I am supportive of building more submarines,” Calvert said. “If I appropriated money to build another submarine it may look good, sound good, but we wouldn’t accomplish anything. What we need to build is the industrial base to build more submarines.”