BAE Systems to build 28 payload tubes for Virginia-class submarines

BAE Systems today announced it will build 28 payload tubes under the Navy's Virginia-class submarine program.

In a press release, the company said it would assemble the tubes for Block V of the Virginia-class submarines.

"The [Virginia Payload Module] is critical to the Virginia class because it offers not only additional strike capacity, but the flexibility to integrate future payload types, such as unmanned systems and next-generation weapons, as threats evolve," Joe Senftle, BAE Systems' vice president and general manager for weapon systems, said in a statement.

BAE Systems did not disclose the value of the deal, but noted it has already agreed to build nine payload tubes for the program as part of prior contracts.

Block V of the Virginia-class vessels will be the first submarines to feature the Virginia Payload Module, which the Navy describes as "an 84-foot hull section with four additional payload tubes, each capable of carrying seven Tomahawk cruise missiles or various other payloads."

General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding build the Virginia-class submarines.