Navy Columbia (SSBN-826) Class Ballistic Missile Submarine Program: Background and Issues for Congress

The Navy’s Columbia (SSBN-826) class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) aims to design and build a class of 12 new SSBNs to replace the Navy’s current force of 14 aging Ohio-class SSBNs. Since 2013, the Navy has consistently identified the Columbia-class program as the Navy’s top priority program. The Navy procured the first Columbia-class boat in FY2021 and the second in FY2024. The Navy wants to procure the third boat in FY2026. The first and second Columbia-class boats were funded with incremental funding, a funding approach in which the procurement cost of each boat is divided into multiple annual increments, with the first increment occurring in the year in which the boat was procured. The first Columbia-class boat was funded with three-year incremental funding in FY2021-FY2023, and the second boat was funded with two-year incremental funding (also called split funding) in FY2024-FY2025. The Navy wants to use three-year incremental funding for procuring the third and subsequent boats in the program. The procurement dates of the first, second and third Columbia-class boats were spaced years apart from one another to provide time for fixing any design issues that might be discovered in building the first boat before construction proceeds on subsequent boats, and to help ease the submarine construction industrial base into the situation of building Columbia-class submarines while continuing to build Virginia-class attack submarines. During the period FY2021-FY2025, the Columbia-class procurement rate was 0.4 boats per year (i.e., the first two boats were procured during that five-year period). Starting with the third boat in FY2026, the Navy wants to shift Columbia-class procurement to a higher rate of one boat per year, so that the final 10 ships in the program (i.e., boats 3 through 12) would be procured over the 10-year period FY2026-FY2035. To reduce Columbia-class procurement costs and mitigate risks from shifting Columbia-class procurement to the higher rate of one boat per year, the Navy wants to use a block buy contract to procure the five Columbia-class boats that are scheduled to be procured in FY2026-FY2030 (i.e., boats 3 through 7). The Navy’s FY2026 budget submission requests the procurement of the third boat in the class; authority to use three-year incremental funding for procuring each of the remaining 10 boats in the program (i.e., boats 3 through 12); and authority for using a block buy contract to procure the five Columbia-class boats that are scheduled to be procured in FY2026-FY2030 (i.e., boats 3 through 7). Issues for Congress for the Columbia-class program include the impact of an estimated 17-month delay in the delivery of the first Columbia-class boat on the Navy’s plans for replacing Ohio-class SSBNs on a timely basis, and the potential impact of the Columbia-class construction workload on the ability of the submarine construction industrial base to build Virginia-class submarines in desired numbers in coming years. Decisions that Congress makes on these issues could substantially affect U.S. military capabilities and funding requirements, and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.