The industrial base is not currently capable of building three Virginia-class submarines a year, a Huntington Ingalls Industries executive told reporters Monday.
Jennifer Boykin, the president of HII's Newport News Shipbuilding, told reporters at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space conference that a substantial investment is needed for the industrial base to be able to build three Virginia-class submarines a year.
"The bottom line is the enterprise would require significant investment in capacity, not just at the yards, but throughout the entire supply chain, to get to three per year," Boykin said.
The Navy conducted an assessment last fall with Newport News and General Dynamics' Electric Boat, which team to build the Virginia-class submarines, Boykin said. That assessment determined the industrial base could not currently handle three Virginia-class submarines a year, she said.
The Navy's most recent shipbuilding plan, the first under the Biden administration, was released in June and calls for the industrial capacity for submarines to be increased.
"The plan beyond the Future Year Defense Program (FYDP) reflects an increase in SSN production that is fully realized with the conclusion of the Columbia-class procurement and delivery," the plan said. "We continue to evaluate the industrial base capacity increase required for more consistent delivery of two SSNs per year during Columbia serial production and subsequent potential increases to SSN procurement."
Boykin said the company and Electric Boat are working with the Navy to catch up on work on the Virginia-class submarine program that was slowed down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She said the company was operating with just 65% of its production workforce on average from March to October 2020, and decided to prioritize the ships closest to delivery after consulting with the Navy.
The company recently worked with Electric Boat and the Navy to re-establish a schedule for the Virginia-class submarines that are earlier in the construction process.
"We re-established what the schedule is for Block 4, and we are tracking to that," she said. "It's all with an aim to recover to a two-per-year pace. We know at Newport News, we have to get 22 modules out of our steel factory and 10 modules out of our assembly side of the business, so we are tracking to that recovery plan."
The partnership is on track to deliver two submarines this year, next year and into the future, Boykin said.
"I think we're on the recovery path and we're seeing the boats, albeit not exactly at a six-month cadence right now, but we do have line of sight to deliver two this year, deliver two next year, and going forward," Boykin said.
The Navy has a "handshake agreement" with the company to buy three LPD-class amphibious transport docks and one LHA-class landing helicopter assault vessel, but is unlikely to execute the contract as it wants to conduct a force structure assessment during its fiscal year 2023 budget review this summer and fall before buying the ships.
House appropriators encouraged the Navy to fulfill the contract, and the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee moved to extend the Navy's ability to fulfill the contract by one year.
Kari Wilkinson, the president of Ingalls Shipbuilding, said Monday the company supports the block buy.
"It obviously represents the most affordable way to buy the ships," Wilkinson said. "We're ready to build those ships one at a time or in a bundle; we like the bundle because we think it puts everyone's best foot forward."
The block buy provides better support to the supply chain, according to Christopher Kastner, the company's chief operating officer.
"Block buys support our supply chain, and allows them to keep their workforce employed to support our shipbuilding," he said.