BAE Systems has been awarded a $70 million contract by General Dynamics Electric Boat to manufacture missile tubes for the U.S. Navy’s next-generation Virginia-class submarines, the company announced on 2 April.
The contract covers the production of Virginia Payload Module (VPM) tubes for Block VI submarines—a key enhancement to the Virginia-class fleet that significantly boosts their strike capability.
“These missile tubes deliver critical firepower to the Virginia-class submarine fleet, a cornerstone to U.S. national security,” said Charles Lewis, director of Submarine Programs for Platforms & Services at BAE Systems, in a company announcement.
“Continuing to manufacture VPMs at our Louisville, Kentucky, facility maintains our strong support to the industrial base, while also ensuring Sailors receive the capability they need to protect our country.”
The VPM adds four additional payload tubes to the submarines, each capable of housing up to seven Tomahawk cruise missiles or future missile variants. This increases the total number of missiles a Virginia-class submarine can carry, offering enhanced flexibility for strike missions and force projection.
The components will be manufactured at BAE’s Louisville site, where a skilled workforce already supports the U.S. Navy by producing other submarine structures.
In addition to VPM production, the facility builds the propulsor system for the Virginia-class and a heavy propulsor structure for the forthcoming Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.
According to BAE Systems, its Louisville plant has the manufacturing capacity to take on more work in support of the Navy’s growing undersea fleet. The latest contract adds to the company’s role in the U.S. submarine industrial base, a critical sector as Washington prioritises modernising its strategic deterrent and maintaining undersea superiority.
The cost for F35 is likely to sky rocket now Trump has put tariffs on 97% of the Human race. LM is going to be really screwed if it has to swallow all those price uplifts on the production slots it already sold up to 2029. I wonder if a larger UK order along with the UK favoured nation status could see LM potentially shift more to BAE. I’m thinking a separate software development centre along with a UK manufacturing base.
Plenty of room for a plant in Luton since Vauxhall shut down last week!
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Hi Jim. It probably isn’t going to have as big a direct impact on US Defence spending as you might think. The US has since 1933 had the “Buy American” Act, which compels all Federal Agency’s to buy US products where possible and regardless of cost (within reason).
As it stands US Steel and Aluminium is roughly 50% more expensive than EU and 80% more than Chinese, the reasons for that are complicated but are roughly as follows :-
A) US Government is the largest single customer for US manufactured Steel and Aluminium and due to the above mentioned act they are essentially on the wrong end of a Monopoly price wise.
B) Due to this cosy arrangement there is little of no incentive for the long term manufacturers to invest in newer and more efficient plant. Why should they bother when they have a very profitable product which has Bomb proof protection from competition.
C) The plants are nearly all based in a handful of States which have a highly organised, closed ship, Unionised workforce (they vote as a block and don’t like the idea of more efficient plant either). Those states are also the biggest concentration of “swing states”, so no politician dares upset the apple cart.
So for those reasons I doubt it will have any real impact on the cost of US defence products.
As for UK starting up an assembly line, I’m sceptical about that as there are already 2 small overseas Assembly lines in Italy and Japan and without us putting in a substantial B2 order I can’t see the US agreeing to a 3rd.
The prime issue will be tariffs on components. Every piece now sent to the US by partner nations will be subject to anything from 10% up to 34% as the tariffs are on all goods. Paying 10% on top of a Rolls Royce lift fan or 20% on a mid fuselage from Germany will be a big financial cost to the program and Lockheed may have to eat that cost in the production slots already sold. A UK manufacturing site could bypass that for all international customers. For software many international customers are wary. Having a second BAE led option may put their minds at ease even if they don’t choose it over LM it’s nice to know there are two options. F35 is very important for the UK as well both industrially and militarily. We need to stop the Americans f**king it up. As LM has lost out on NGAD the entire companies future is F35 and they are rapidly loosing future order potential. They may look for a foreign partner solution. BAE was originally a joint development partner. Older Lockheed aircraft like F16 can be serviced by BAE so perhaps diversification on F35 is now required to avoid US tariffs and ease security concerns for customers.
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