Anonymous ID: b6a76b Jan. 27, 2021, 5:28 a.m. No.12729976   🗄️.is 🔗kun

This is an interesting read. Seems like a long way out, but I'm just wondering if the massive movements in our large industry and manufacturing might not be hiding a hidden timescale to get these BOOMers out into the water a decade earlier…

 

Strategic Magic?

 

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/R41129.pdf

 

"The Navy has identified the Columbia-class program as the Navy’s top priority program."

 

Navy Columbia (SSBN-826) Class Ballistic Missile Submarine Program

Congressional Research Service

Summary

The Columbia (SSBN-826) class program is a program to design and build a class of 12 new

ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) to replace the Navy’s current force of 14 aging Ohio-class

SSBNs. The Navy has identified the Columbia-class program as the Navy’s top priority program.

The Navy wants to procure the first Columbia-class boat in FY2021. Research and development

work on the program has been underway for several years, and advance procurement (AP)

funding for the first boat began in FY2017. The Navy’s proposed FY2021 budget requests

$2,891.5 million (i.e., about $2.9 billion) in procurement funding, $1,123.2 million (i.e., about

$1.1 billion) in advance procurement (AP) funding, and $397.3 million in research and

development funding for the program.

The Navy’s FY2021 budget submission estimates the procurement cost of the first Columbiaclass boat at $14,393.4 million (i.e., about $14.4 billion) in then-year dollars, including $6,007.8

million (i.e., about $6.0 billion) in costs for plans, meaning (essentially) the detail design/nonrecurring engineering (DD/NRE) costs for the Columbia class. (It is a longstanding Navy

budgetary practice to incorporate the DD/NRE costs for a new class of ship into the total

procurement cost of the first ship in the class.) Excluding costs for plans, the estimated hands-on

construction cost of the first ship is $8,385.7 million (i.e., about $8.4 billion). The boat has

received $6,227.8 million (i.e., about $6.2 billion) in prior-year AP funding. The Navy’s proposed

FY2021 budget requests $2,891.5 million in procurement funding, and the remaining $5,274.2

million (i.e., about $5.3 billion) in procurement funding needed to complete the boat’s total

estimated procurement cost of $14,393.4 million is to be requested in FY2022 and FY2023.

The Navy wants to procure the second Columbia-class boat in FY2024. The Navy’s FY2021

budget submission estimates the procurement cost of this boat at $9,326.1 million (i.e., about $9.3

billion) in then-year dollars. The Navy’s proposed FY2021 budget requests $1,123.2 million in

AP funding for the Columbia-class program, of which $1,028.0 million (i.e., about $1.0 billion) is

for the second boat and $95.2 million is for the third and subsequent boats in the program.

The Navy’s FY2021 budget submission estimates the total procurement cost of the 12-ship class

at $109.8 billion in then-year dollars.

Issues for Congress for the Columbia-class program include the following:

 the risk—due to the COVID-19 situation, technical challenges, and/or fundingrelated issues— of a delay in designing and building the lead Columbia-class

boat, which could put at risk the Navy’s ability to have the boat ready for its first

scheduled deterrent patrol in 2031, when it is to deploy in the place of the first

retiring Ohio-class SSBN;

 whether the Navy has accurately priced the work it is proposing to do in the

Columbia-class program in FY2021;

 the risk of cost growth in the program;

 the potential impact of the Columbia-class program on funding that will be

available for other Navy programs, including other shipbuilding programs; and

 potential industrial-base challenges of building both Columbia-class boats and

Virginia-class attack submarines (SSNs) at the same time.