Courtney Welcomes U.S. Navy Contract to Electric Boat for Lead Yard Services on Virginia-Class Program

NORWICH, CT — Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee on Seapower and Projection Forces, welcomed a new U.S. Navy contract awarded to General Dynamics Electric Boat (EB) for Lead Yard Support, Development Studies, and Design Efforts related the Virginia-class submarines. In light of Chairman Courtney’s efforts to grow the Virginia-class program—including his work to institute the two-per-year construction cadence, and to save the second sub from elimination in 2020—this contract represents additional investment on top of a previously awarded contract in 2019, and allows Electric Boat to continue services as the lead yard on research and development efforts to maintain development efforts on Virginia-class submarines. The contract award is valued at $532,921,125, with modification options to bring the cumulative value to $813,720,300. Click here to read more.

“Success takes persistent effort, and it doesn’t happen overnight—that’s true in any industry, and it’s certainly the case when it comes to the booming growth at the shipyard in Groton, and in our skilled manufacturing sectors,” said Chairman Courtney. “This U.S. Navy contract award is a direct result of all the growth and success eastern Connecticut’s shipbuilding and manufacturing sectors have been seeing lately. We’ve kept Virginia-class submarine construction going strong, even staving off an attempt to eliminate an entire sub back in 2020, we’ve kept our skilled manufacturing workforce growing at an impressive pace, and this recent award represents an additional investment on top of a contract the Navy previously awarded in 2019 to support submarine design and construction in Groton. Years of bipartisan work on the Seapower Subcommittee and an immense amount of grassroots effort to grow eastern Connecticut’s workforce training pipelines are paying dividends for our region, and I’m excited to keep it going as we complete the FY 2023 NDAA.”

The Seapower Subcommittee has jurisdiction over all U.S. Navy shipbuilding, and Rep. Courtney has served as its Chairman since January 2019. U.S. Navy submarine construction has boomed under Courtney’s leadership—he was key in establishing the two-per-year construction cadence of VA-class submarines; he helped authorize the historic $22.2 billion Block V multi-year procurement contract for VA-class subs, awarded to EB in 2019; and he was instrumental in the development of the new Columbia-class submarine program, which is now officially underway.  

In 2020, Chairman Courtney also led the bipartisan effort to block the Trump Administration’s attempt to eliminate construction of an entire Virginia-class submarine in FY 2021. After a year’s worth of work, Courtney’s bipartisan effort prevailed—construction of the Second Submarine was saved, and the contract was awarded to EB in March 2021. Click here to read more.

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