Navy Columbia (SSBN-826) Class Ballistic Missile Submarine Program: Background and Issues for Congress
Abstract
This report provides background information and potential oversight issues for Congress on the Navy's Columbia (SSBN-826) class program, a program to design and build a class of 12 new ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) to replace the Navy's current force of 14 aging Ohio-class SSBNs. The Navy has identified the Columbia-class program as the Navy's top priority program. The Navy procured the first Columbia-class boat in FY2021 and wants to procure the second boat in the class in FY2024. The program poses a number of funding and oversight issues for Congress. Decisions that Congress makes on the Columbia-class program could substantially affect U.S. military capabilities and funding requirements, and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base. This report focuses on the Columbia-class program as a Navy shipbuilding program. Another CRS report - CRS Report RL33640, U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues, by Amy F. Woolf - discusses the Columbia class as an element of future U.S. strategic nuclear forces in the context of strategic nuclear arms modernization efforts and arms control agreements.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 19, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1171920
Entities
People
- Ronald O'Rourke
Organizations
- Library of Congress