
This week, in Congressional hearings, the Navy’s top acquisition official explained the Navy’s thinking in requesting a third Virginia-class attack submarine (SSN) in the FY 2020 budget request. The Navy’s request is asking for nearly $10 billion to buy three Virginia boats, one more than last year. Two are set to be in the Block V group and will feature the Virginia Payload Module (VPM) that will allow it to carry additional Tomahawk cruise missiles. These submarines are in the…