Posted on 04/07/2011 9:16:28 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Navy Cutting Time To Produce Virginia Subs
Apr 7, 2011
By Michael Fabey
The U.S. Navy is approaching its 60-month construction goal for its Virginia-class submarines, despite a recent redesign of the bow to accommodate larger and more versatile weapon tubes, according to Capt. Michael Jabaley, Virginia-class program manager.
The sub-building contractor team of General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding is now producing each sub within about 65 months and should get the next sub pair closer to the 60-month mark, Jabaley told Aviation Week. The sub construction time reduction is ahead of schedule, he says.
Cutting the time to build a Virginia-class submarine is an important part of keeping the sub’s cost in line with federal requirements. The Navy is charged with keeping the price tag for each sub to about $2 billion in fiscal 2005 dollars, which means a target price of about $2.6 billion for the fiscal 2012 Virginia vessel, according to Jabaley. “The cost requirement is baked into the contract,” he says.
One of the reasons for the construction reduction, Jabaley says, has been the time saved by the coating facility brought online by Electric Boat at its Quonset, R.I., facility, which permits the yard to cover the hull with its special coating piece by piece instead of waiting for the whole hull to be done first.
“That is a key enabler for the [construction] span reduction we’ve seen,” Jabaley says. There is a chance that the submarines could be built in less than 60 months, he says.
What makes the schedule trimming even more noteworthy is that it was accomplished even as the Navy implemented a bow redesign, replacing the 12 vertical-launch system tubes with two large payload tubes, similar to those on the SSGN cruise missile subs.
The Virginia-class Block III 87-in.-dia. bow tubes open the door to a vast array of additional potential payloads, Jabaley says. The Navy could adapt several weapons for submarine use by integrating them with SSGN and Block III Virginia large-diameter payload tubes.
There are some differences between the SSGN payload tubes and those on a Virginia sub. For example, the SSGN tubes are a little longer and are internal to the sub, while the Virginia Payload Tubes (VPTs) will be outside the pressure hull, requiring the middle slot to remain open to connect Tomahawk missiles to the combat system, Jabaley says. However, the basic commonality of the SSGN tubes and VPTs will allow leveraging of payload development for both platforms.
Navy and industry submarine officials recently gathered at a summit, Jabaley says, to discuss what additional payloads could be placed in the tubes.
One payload for the larger tubes that could make a remarkable weapon would be the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, Jabaley says. “To be able to put an AIM-9X in a tube with the ability to launch it and engage a helicopter — that’s really a game-changer,” he says.
Can I get that with an extended warranty?
Is 5 years to build something supposed to be impressive??
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