page_title: Virginia-class submarine
section_title: Virginia Payload Module
hierarchical_section_title: Virginia-class submarine / Innovations / Virginia Payload Module
caption_attribution_description: English: 150801-EO381-162 NORFOLK, Va. (Aug. 1, 2015) Sailors man the rails as they bring the ship to life during the commissioning ceremony for the Virginia-class attack submarine USS John Warner (SSN 785) at Naval Station Norfolk. John Warner is the 12th Virginia-class attack submarine to join the fleet and the first Virginia-class attack submarine to be homeported in Norfolk, Va. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Casey Hopkins/Released)
context_page_description: The Virginia class, also known as the SSN-774 class, is a class of nuclear-powered cruise missile fast-attack submarines, currently in military service in the United States Navy. Designed by General Dynamics's Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries, the Virginia-class submarines are the United States Navy's latest undersea warfare platform which incorporates the latest in stealth, intelligence gathering and weapons systems technology.
  Virginia-class submarines are designed for a broad spectrum of open-ocean and littoral missions, including anti-submarine warfare and intelligence gathering operations. They are scheduled to replace older Los Angeles-class submarines, many of which have already been decommissioned. Virginia-class submarines will be acquired through 2043, and are expected to remain in service until at least 2060, with later submarines expected to remain into the 2070s.
context_section_description: The Block III submarines have two multipurpose Virginia Payload Tubes (VPT) replacing the dozen single purpose cruise missile launch tubes.
  The Block V submarines built from 2019 onward will have an additional Virginia Payload Module (VPM) mid-body section, increasing their overall length. The VPM will add four more VPTs of the same diameter and greater height, located on the centerline, carrying up to seven Tomahawk missiles apiece, that would replace some of the capabilities lost when the SSGN conversion Ohio-class submarines are retired from the fleet. Initially eight payload tubes/silos were planned but this was later rejected in favour of four tubes installed in a 70-foot (21 m) long module between the operations compartment and the propulsion spaces.
  The VPM could potentially carry (non-nuclear) medium-range ballistic missiles. Adding the VPM would increase the cost of each submarine by $500 million (2012 prices). This additional cost would be offset by reducing the total submarine force by four boats. More recent reports state that as a cost reduction measure the VPM would carry only Tomahawk SLCM and possibly unmanned undersea vehicles (UUV) with the new price tag now estimated at $360–380 million per boat (in 2010 prices). The VPM launch tubes/silos will reportedly be similar in design to the ones planned for the Ohio-class replacement. In July 2016 General Dynamics was awarded $19 million for VPM development. In February 2017 General Dynamics was awarded $126 million for long lead time construction of Block V submarines equipped with VPM.
  The VPM was designed by BWX Technologies (the same company also designs the missile tubes for the Columbia-class submarine), however, manufacture is undertaken by BAE Systems.
caption: USS John Warner at her commissioning ceremony on 1 August 2015, with forward Virginia Payload Tube hatch open
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