
The Navy is looking at options to keep the Columbia-class submarine production line hot past a 12th boat and diversify what is loaded into the Virginia Payload Module, the service’s Director of Undersea Warfare said Thursday,The Navy’s 12 Columbia-class nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) are set to replace the current 14 Ohio-class SSBNs that provide the sea leg of the U.S. nuclear weapons triad. The Columbia boats will carry 16 Trident II-D5 missiles armed with W76 nuclear warheads while the…