Undersea Strike: Virginia Payload Module to Give Subs More Firepower.

• Author: Luckenbaugh, Josh

The Navy is augmenting its attack submarine fleet by increasing its capacity to deploy weapons and other key payloads in a potential conflict.

In December, senior Navy leaders, elected officials and industry representatives gathered at General Dynamics Electric Boat's Quonset Point Facility in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, for the keel-laying ceremony for the USS Arizona, the 30th of the service's Virginia-class fast attack submarines.

Once completed, the Arizona will be the first in its class to be equipped with the Virginia Payload Module, a new hull section that will enable the Arizona and subsequent Virginia-class ships to deliver a variety of capabilities such as weapons, vehicles and undersea payloads, according to the Navy.

"The boats in this class are the most advanced attack submarines ever designed. Their stealth, firepower and maneuverability are superior to every other attack submarine force in the world," Rear Adm. Jonathan Rucker, the Navy's program executive officer for attack submarines, said in a press release. "Building, operating and maintaining Arizona and other Virginia-class subs is crucial to ensuring the Navy's ability to project power in an ever-shifting global threat environment, and to maintaining peace and the free operation of our sea lanes."

The first ship in the class, the USS Virginia, was commissioned in 2004. The first 10 Virginia-class subs--Block 1 and Block 2 of the class--feature 12 Vertical Launch System tubes for firing Tomahawk cruise missiles, a Navy fact file on attack submarines said.

Beginning with Block 3, the Navy redesigned "approximately 20 percent of the ship" to reduce acquisition costs, the fact file said. The redesign included replacing the 12 vertical launch tubes with "two large diameter 87-inch Virginia Payload Tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles using Multiple All-up Round Canisters," the file said. The added volume of the tubes provides more payload flexibility while simplifying construction and reducing acquisition costs, the file stated.

The Navy maintained this design on the Block 4 ships, but starting with the Arizona--the second sub in Block 5--the Navy introduced the Virginia Payload Module, or VPM, featuring four additional large diameter payload tubes, the fact file said.

"Due to their location, each VPM payload tube is capable of carrying seven Tomahawk cruise missiles adding 28 missiles per" module, the Navy file said. It also "reconstitutes the...