Attack submarine delivered to US Navy

The US Navy accepted delivery of future attack submarine USS Indiana on June 25.

The ship's construction began in 2012 and it is scheduled to be commissioned in September.

The attack submarine features a redesigned bow with enhanced payload capabilities, replacing 12 individual vertical-launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia payload tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The redesign also incorporates a large-aperture bow water-backed array, which replaces the traditional air-backed spherical array.

These, among other design changes, reduced the submarines' acquisition cost while maintaining their warfighting capabilities.