The US Navy's Ohio-class submarine replacement programme has begun and will now move into the technology development phase. During this phase, the programme will establish requirements and continue design and technology development efforts that will ultimately lead to a ship construction contract.
The US Defense Acquisition Board endorsed replacing the current 14 Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines as they reach the end of their service life with 12 Ohio replacement submarines, each comprising 16, 2.2-metre missile tubes, in an acquisition decision memorandum.
Design, prototyping, and technology development efforts will continue to ensure sufficient technological maturity for lead ship procurement in 2019.
