Babcock has secured authorisation to manufacture complex submarine assemblies at its Rosyth facility for the United States Navy’s Virginia Class Block VI fast-attack submarine programme.

The work comes through an expansion of Babcock’s existing strategic partnership with HII, the American shipbuilder responsible for Virginia Class construction. A small initial engineering contract is already underway at Rosyth.

Babcock said the authorisation came “through expansion of our strategic partnership with HII,” adding that it is “now authorised to manufacture and build complex submarine assemblies at Rosyth for Virginia Class Block VI fast-attack submarines.”

The company did not disclose the value of the initial contract, describing it only as “a small initial engineering contract” that is currently underway.

The Virginia Class is a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine designed and built for the United States Navy. Developed as a successor to the Seawolf Class, the programme was initiated in the 1990s with the aim of producing a more affordable yet highly capable vessel suited to a broad range of missions including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence gathering, and special operations support. The lead vessel, USS Virginia, was commissioned in 2004.

Production of the class is shared between HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division in Virginia and General Dynamics Electric Boat in Connecticut, with each yard responsible for completing alternate submarines. The programme is structured into successive blocks, each incorporating incremental capability improvements. Block VI, the variant to which Babcock’s Rosyth work relates, represents the latest iteration of the design and incorporates upgrades to combat systems, payload capacity, and acoustic performance.

The Virginia Class constitutes the backbone of the US Navy’s fast-attack submarine fleet, with over 20 vessels in service and further hulls under construction or on order. The class is designed to operate in both open-ocean and littoral environments, and is intended to remain in front-line service through the middle of the century alongside the larger Columbia Class ballistic missile submarines currently entering production.