First New “Stealthy” Nuclear Armed Columbia-class Submarine Arrives in 2028

by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

The Navy’s first next-generation high-tech new Columbia=class submarine will arrive in 2028 as the service works intensely to build its first two nuclear-armed boats. Intended to quietly and secretly lurk in dark corners of the ocean in position to launch a catastrophic “second-strike” retaliation in the event the US comes under nuclear attack, the new Columbia-class submarines will introduce a new generation of undersea technology.

The submarines could not start arriving too soon, as the existing Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines have already lived decades beyond their intended service life – and securing the undersea portion of the nuclear triad with Columbia submarines has long been deemed the Pentagon’s top acquisition priority.

The Navy’s most recent budget request asks for $6.1 billion for research, development and procurement for the Columbia class for 2024, and the first two hulls are well along in the process of being built.

The request would procure “the second Columbia-class submarine, our nation’s most survivable leg of the strategic triad, and [keep] us on track for the delivery of the first vessel in” 2028, Erik Raven, undersecretary of the Navy, said in a March 13 congressional briefing as quoted in an essay from Arms Control Today.

The first Columbia-class patrols are slated for the early 2030s as part of a new era in undersea strategic deterrence intended to function well into the 2080s and beyond. A

As mentioned in the essay by Under-Secretary Raven, the second Columbia-class submarine is also well underway in the construction process. Modules, as they are called, continue to take shape at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Ct., and much of the initial production and science and technology work began more than 10 years ago. As far back as 2014 and before, the Navy was working on what’s called “tube and hull forging” to weld missile tubes into 4-pack units to integrate into emerging ship modules.