SSBN(X) Cost

The Navy does not have a hard date by when it must achieve the $4.9 billion cost target the service has set for its next-generation ballistic missile submarine, a service official said today.

The Ohio-class replacement submarine is priced at about $5.3 billion in calendar year 2010 dollars, Rear Adm. David Johnson, program executive officer for submarines, told reporters after his presentation at the Navy League's annual symposium in National Harbor, MD.

Program officials hope to reduce the price tag for the new sub as much as possible to relieve pressure on the service's shipbuilding account. A recent Congressional Research Service report estimates the Ohio-class replacement sub program at about $5.4 billion per boat.

A potential oversight issue for this program is the likelihood that the Navy will be able to reduce the average procurement cost to the target cost figure, Ronald O'Rourke, naval affairs specialist for CRS wrote in a March 28 report.

In 2016 when the program hits milestone B, the service will conduct a more detailed cost estimate and begin annual reviews with the Pentagon's top acquisition official to measure how the program office is reducing cost, Johnson said.

"I think it's appropriate. It's worked really well ever since milestone A, and generally it's a good focusing point to keep doing these repetitive reviews," he said. "It's not erroneous, I think, if we do it right."