![]() ![]() The service has consistently said that building the new Columbia class of ballistic submarines is the top priority, but "our whole philosophy going into this is - get Virginia as a stable foundation, which then we can build Columbia on top of," James Geurts, the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said in a roundtable with defense reporters Monday. However, Navy officials said the service is up to the task of managing the burst of activity in nuclear shipbuilding. The work at Huntington Ingalls would also come while the Newport News facility continues to fix persistent problems with the weapons elevators on the new Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, and prepares to build two more carriers in the Ford class. In addition, the Congressional Research Service cited the "technical risk in the design for the latest version of the Virginia-class submarine" to include the Virginia Payload Module. ![]() The report by CRS also questioned "whether the Navy has accurately priced the work it is proposing to do" on the new subs, and whether the service has taken into account "the potential industrial-base challenges of building both Columbia-class boats and Virginia-class attack submarines at the same time." In a report last month, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service said there were several issues with the contract then being considered by the Navy, including the ongoing impasse in Congress over the fiscal 2020 budget now under a continuing resolution set to expire on Dec. In addition, eight of the nine new boats, expected to come online between 20, will carry the Virginia Payload Module, an additional, 84-foot-long, mid-body section with four vertical launch tubes for storing and launching additional Tomahawk cruise missiles and underwater unmanned vehicles. ![]()
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