News from 2024 ASIU: Navy aims to build 3 submarines per year

The U.S. Navy aims to boost submarine production to three per year—one Columbia-class and two Virginia-class—by 2028 through the “1+2+Sustainment” plan, addressing domestic and AUKUS pact obligations. Image courtesy of the National Interest.

The U.S. Navy aims to boost submarine production to three per year — one Columbia-class and two Virginia-class submarines by 2028 through the “1+2+Sustainment” plan — addressing domestic and AUKUS pact obligations.

RADM Jonathan Rucker, USN, was one of the speakers at the 2024 Annual Symposium & Industry Update. He there stated that the plan began developing in “‘February of 2023,’ the foundation of which is Columbia, the ‘number one priority,’ he said. With that in mind, ‘we start serial production [of Columbia] in 2026 … if you count the time it takes to start and then get the whole production system up to that. Because when you start, you got to get the whole thing. So that Columbia kind of puts us there in that timeframe.’”

Learn more on the National Interest. See news from the 2023 ASIU.