UK to join US Navy’s Virginia-class submarine assembly effort to speed up construction
The Virginia-class SSNs are fitted with the latest sensors and weapons to assist in sea control, land attack, electronic warfare and special operations. (Photo: John Narewski/US Navy)
The expansion of the Virginia-class submarine construction to UK shores could accelerate the project as US shipbuilders continue to fall short of delivery goals.
A contract to complete specific work on the US Navy’s Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines has been outsourced for the first time to Babcock International in the UK, allowing the company to build complex submarine assemblies at its Rosyth shipyard in Scotland.
Babcock and Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced on 9 December they had signed a contract to expand their strategic partnership to support construction of the submarines and “increase throughput at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division”. HII currently builds the submarines at NNS alongside General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB), which carries out some of the work at its Groton, Connecticut site.
The contract is expected to
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