Columbia-Class Submarine Program Passes Milestone B Decision, Can Begin Detail Design 25 April 2016

An undated artist’s rendering of the planned Columbia-class submarine. Image courtesy of Naval Sea Systems Command and retrieved from USNI.

The Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program passed its Milestone B decision review and can progress, with an estimated cost of about $8 billion each. That figure is higher than the Navy’s previous cost estimate but is calculated differently. Most recently, the Navy said it expected the lead ship to cost $10.4 billion – including $4.2 billion in detail design and non-recurring engineering work, as well as $6.2 billion for ship construction – and follow-on ships to cost $5.2 billion, all in 2010 dollars. The $8 billion per boat figure spreads the design and engineering cost evenly across the 12 boats in the class instead of consolidating it in the cost of the lead ship, and it is also calculated in 2017 dollars, which complicates the comparison.

Learn more on USNI. Image courtesy of USNI.