Navy Block V Submarine Deal Brings New Attack Mission Ops

Video Report Above: Navy Flight III Destroyer Radar Kills Enemy Drones and Missiles

– For Special Video Report on Virginia Class from 2019 Sea Air Space –CLICK HERE– Features Navy PM Capt. Hanson —

By Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven

(Washington D.C.) Bringing massive amounts of firepower closer to enemy targets, conducting clandestine “intel” missions in high threat waters and launching undersea attack and surveillance drones are all anticipated missions for the Navy’s emerging Block V Virginia-class attack submarines.

The boats, nine of which are now surging ahead through a new developmental deal between the Navy and General Dynamics Electric Boat, are reshaping submarine attack strategies and concepts of operations — as rivals make gains challenging U.S. undersea dominance. Eight of the new 22-billion Block V deal are being engineered with a new 80-foot weapons section in the boat, enabling the submarine to increase its attack missile capacity from 12 to 40 on-board Tomahawks.

“Block V Virginias and Virginia Payload Module are a generational leap in submarine capability for the Navy,” Program Executive Officer for Submarines Rear Adm. David Goggins, said in a Navy report. “These design changes will enable the fleet to maintain our nation’s undersea dominance.”

The Navy report also said that Virginia. Block V submarines will “incorporate acoustic superiority design changes.”

“Block V has some additional equipment we are developing, which will be added to the USS South Dakota,” Capt. Christopher Hanson, Program Manager, Virginia Class Submarines, said in April of 2019 at the Navy League’s Sea Air Space Symposium.