Block IV submarines procured, or to be procured, in FY 2014-FY 2018 incorporate changes for Reduced Total Ownership Cost (RTOC). The RTOC changes decrease the number of planned major shipyard availabilities from four to three, which allows an increase in planned deployments from 14 to 15 (referred to as “3:15”), resulting in significant operational and support cost savings over the life of the ship. The next major step in the evolution of the Virginia class will come in Block V with the addition of the Virginia Payload Module (VPM), an approximately 80-foot hull insertion that adds four more VPT-sized missile tubes, each capable of carrying seven missiles to provide even more capability.

“We are in early manufacturing already on Block IV boats,” said Hughes. “We have about nine boats in some degree of construction at any one time. From a program management standpoint, that’s a lot to keep track of, but it’s [a] good problem to have.”

The first boat of the class, Virginia, took 84 months to delivery. “We’re now delivering boats in the 60-month range, and because there are shorter target schedules, we have to tell the Navy when we’re going to deliver the boat, because they have to know when to deliver the government-furnished material and have the crew show up. So we all go into each boat with a target date in mind. Everybody supports that target date, which ends up being a few months in advance of when we actually deliver the boat, because reality happens. But those boat deliveries are still ahead of a contracted delivery date. So everybody is coordinated from the beginning on what the targets are for this particular boat, so all the material shows up on time, the crew shows up on time, they get all their certifications done, and the boat’s completely ready to go,” Hughes said.

All of the Virginia-class boats through Block IV are the same length and same dimensions. The Block IV boats with VPT have the same number of missiles. Block V, with the VPM, will be longer. The Virginia class was specifically designed to accept the addition of modular mission hull sections during construction.

The propulsion system is different, too, with BAE Systems pump-jet propulsors instead of noisier propellers. And unlike previous nuclear subs, the Virginia class has a life-of-the-ship reactor core that doesn’t require a mid-life refueling during its 33 years of expected service life.

With Block V, the Navy will start building the boats with VPM. “We’re taking that same team that looked at how to reduce cost, and now we’re adding capability to our Virginia-class submarines. We’re adding an approximately 80-foot hull section with four additional tubes. That enables you to go from 12 to 40 Tomahawks,” Goggins said. “There is no new technology, so it’s low risk.”

By installing additional payload tubes inside the pressure hull and thus making them accessible from inside the submarine when underway, the VPM allows access to the payload tubes so the crew can perform inspection, maintenance, or alterations more easily than with the tubes in the forward end of the boat, which are outside the pressure hull.