
A Navy official this week confirmed the service plans to buy five Columbia-class nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) in a block buy after the first two vessels, while also noting there is not much margin left in the schedule for the first vessel. “For long range planning and to signal the industrial base…our plan will be to buy the next five ships in a block, trying to buy as much as that material, long-lead type material, pull that to the…