Virginia Class Submarine

The Virginia Class Submarine aims to advance procurement and economic order of quantity (EOQ) for essential long lead-time materials required for the construction of nuclear-powered attack submarines. This includes funding for propulsion plant equipment, electronics equipment, non-nuclear propulsion plant equipment, and long lead-time contractor furnished material. The specific objectives include meeting in-yard need dates, achieving multi-year savings for large lot procurements within multi-year contracts, and supporting projected production quantities. The program also aims to minimize risk to ship construction by ensuring early system installation and testing, keeping critical components out of the critical path to ship delivery, and establishing footprint unique packaging to allow efficient installation of electronics.

The Navy's two VCS per year cadence, the two-CVN buy of CVN 80 and 81, ramp up to serial production of COLUMBIA, construction schedule accelerations that reduce production gaps between COLUMBIA shipsets, and the support of 3-year AP funding for COLUMBIA has level-loaded demand and allowed optimized use of capacity across the nuclear industrial base. Preparations for generational shipbuilding volume included implementation of streamlined processes that eliminated unnecessary overhead, optimized material procurements, and improved production. Providing a consistent demand signal to principal suppliers has further improved the efficiency and effectiveness of long-term planning, including required vendor self-capitalization.