Columbia Class Ballistic Nuclear Submarine gets the green light!

via Defense Industry Daily.

General Dynamics Electric Boat has landed a $5.1 billion US Navy contract to commence development work on the Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine. Announced last Thursday, the award includes component and technology development, missile tube module and reactor compartment bulkhead prototyping and manufacturing efforts, and United Kingdom Strategic Weapon Support System kit manufacturing—which is covered under a foreign military sale—for the Columbia class ballistic missile submarines. Work will be conducted at several US locations and is scheduled for completion by December 2031. 12 Columbia-class submarines are planned by the Navy, and will replace the current fleet of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. The first vessel, the Columbia, is expected to be completed by 2031 at a cost of $10.4 billion counting research and engineering costs. The expected cost of follow-on vessels has been floated at over $5 billion a piece. The vessels will support the US Navy and British Royal Navy's Trident II D5 submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) system.

First.  Defense Industry Daily puts out a pretty neat and information packed newsletter.  You might want to check it out.  Second.  The first boat hits the water in 2030 timeframe?  Geez.  That's waaay out there.  Does it take this long to develop a follow on?  I mean it is an evolutionary design right?