WASHINGTON – Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Michael Gilday hasconfirmed the US Navy’s plan to develop the sophisticated Colombia-class ofnuclear powered submarines.
“The Navy’s first acquisition priority is recapitalizing our StrategicNuclear Deterrent — [General Dynamics] Electric Boat [shipyard] is helpingus do just that.
Together, we will continue to drive affordability, technology development,and integration efforts to support Columbia’s fleet introduction on time orearlier”, he stressed in a press release on Wednesday.
Referring to an “unavoidable” situation” related to an increasing price tagof the Colombia-class submarines, Gilday said that “if you go back to the’80s when we were building Ohio, it was about 35 percent of theshipbuilding budget,” while Columbia will be about 38-40 percent.
“The seaborne leg of the triad is absolutely critical. By the time we getthe Columbia into the water, the Ohio class is going to be about 40 yearsold.
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And so we have to replace that strategic leg, and it has to come out of ourbudget right now. Those are the facts”, he pointed out.
The Pentagon announced plans in April to increase spending on theColumbia-class submarine programlinkto$4.3 billion in 2021, which will see start of the construction of the firstsuch sub.
By 2024, the program would get over $5 billion per year, according to aCongressional Research Office report on the proposal released earlier thisyear.
