Matthew Nelson
Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics and a 2019 Wash100 winner, has said design of the U.S. Navy’s Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine is 97 percent complete and construction drawings are 43 percent complete, USNI News reported Wednesday.
She noted during the company’s first quarter earnings call its Electric Boat subsidiary has begun to develop long lead components on the lead underwater vessel, designated as SSBN-826.
“We will be at 83-percent complete at the start of construction, far in excess of historical design completion metrics for any class of warships,†Novakovic added.
The company received a potential $5B contract in September 2017 to provide integrated product and process development design services for SSBNs.
Capital expenditures in the firm’s marine systems business reached $243M during 2018. The segment is made-up of Electric Boat, Bath Iron Works and NASSCO, all of which manufacture vessels for the Navy.
