U.S. Navy Reclassifies 19 Planned Virginia-Class Submarines to Form Next-Generation Strike Fleet.

The U.S. Navy has reclassified all 19 planned Virginia class submarines equipped with the Virginia Payload Module (VPM) as guided missile submarines (SSGNs), formally expanding their conventional strike role. The move prepares the fleet to replace the retiring Ohio class SSGNs while preserving critical undersea firepower into the 2030s.

The redesignation applies to every Virginia class submarine fitted with the Virginia Payload Module, reflecting how the Navy intends to employ the boats rather than introducing a new submarine class. The first vessel under the new designation, SSGN 803, is scheduled for delivery in fiscal year 2029, with the remaining submarines expected to enter service through fiscal year 2038. Alongside traditional attack submarine missions, the boats will assume a significantly larger long-range strike role as the Ohio-class guided missile submarines leave service.

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The Virginia-class attack submarine Pre-Commissioning Unit USS Mississippi (SSN-782) conducts alpha trials in the Atlantic Ocean. While USS Mississippi belongs to the earlier Block II configuration, the U.S. Navy's new SSGN designation will apply to the nineteen future Virginia-class Block V and Block VI submarines equipped with the Virginia Payload Module (VPM). (Picture source: US DoD)

Rather than introducing a new submarine design, the redesignation acknowledges that the Virginia Payload Module fundamentally changes the operational profile of the Block V and future Block VI variants. The additional hull section transforms the Virginia from a conventional fast attack submarine into a platform capable of delivering substantially larger precision strike packages while retaining its anti-submarine, anti-surface, intelligence, and special operations capabilities. More than an administrative adjustment, the new SSGN designation reflects a doctrinal evolution that places long-range conventional strike at the center of future U.S. undersea operations as the Navy transitions away from the dedicated Ohio class guided missile submarines.

As announced by the U.S. Department of the Navy on August 3, 2026, the Virginia Payload Module adds an approximately 84-foot, or 25.6-meter, section amidships, increasing the submarine’s overall length to about 461 feet, or 140.5 meters. The module incorporates four large-diameter payload tubes, each capable of carrying seven Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, providing capacity for twenty-eight additional missiles. Combined with two bow-mounted Virginia Payload Tubes, each able to carry six Tomahawks, a VPM-equipped submarine can carry up to forty missiles. This figure represents its maximum Tomahawk capacity, as the large-diameter tubes can also accommodate other weapons and undersea payloads.

The VPM-equipped variant has a submerged displacement of approximately 10,200 tons, compared with around 7,800 tons for a Virginia without the additional module. Powered by a nuclear reactor core designed to last throughout the submarine’s service life, it uses a pump-jet propulsor to limit its acoustic signature during submerged operations. Its combat architecture combines the AN/BYG-1 combat control system with an evolving sonar suite incorporating bow, flank, and towed arrays. Non-hull-penetrating photonics masts equipped with daylight, infrared, and low-light sensors replace conventional optical periscopes. The future SSGNs are intended to become a central component of the U.S. Navy’s Distributed Maritime Operations concept. Their expanded missile inventory will allow commanders to generate a higher volume of long-range precision strikes from a single stealth platform and complicate an adversary’s targeting and defensive planning. The boats will nevertheless remain multimission submarines rather than dedicated cruise missile carriers.

They retain the full Virginia class mission set, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence collection, mine warfare, and support for special operations forces. Four 533 mm torpedo tubes allow them to employ Mk 48 Advanced Capability heavyweight torpedoes, while their lockout facilities and compatibility with a Dry Deck Shelter support the deployment of Navy SEAL teams and underwater delivery vehicles. The VPM also provides additional capacity for future missiles, unmanned systems, and other payloads as operational requirements evolve.

The comparison with the Ohio class highlights both the advantages and the limitations of the transition. Each Ohio class SSGN can carry up to 154 Tomahawks, accommodate as many as 66 special operations personnel, support two Dry Deck Shelters, and operate with alternating Blue and Gold crews. A Virginia SSGN carries up to forty Tomahawks, roughly one-quarter of the Ohio’s maximum missile load, and cannot reproduce the same concentration of strike and special operations capacity on a single platform.

Across the entire planned fleet, nineteen Virginia VPM submarines could provide up to 760 Tomahawk positions, compared with 616 across the four Ohio-class SSGNs. However, 228 of those positions correspond to the twelve missiles already carried by each Virginia without the VPM. The modules themselves, therefore, add 532 positions, meaning the transition does not fully replace the Ohio fleet’s missile capacity incrementally. Instead, it distributes conventional strike weapons across a larger number of more flexible, individually less valuable platforms.

That distribution could provide broader geographic coverage and reduce the consequences of losing or withdrawing a single submarine. It also prevents the concentration of a large share of the Navy’s undersea strike capacity in only four specialized vessels. At the same time, commanders would need approximately four Virginia SSGNs to generate a missile salvo comparable to that of one Ohio, potentially increasing coordination requirements and drawing several attack submarines away from other missions. The transition will also occur gradually. USS Georgia has begun the inactivation process, while USS Ohio, USS Florida, and USS Michigan are currently planned to leave service in fiscal years 2027, 2028, and 2029, respectively. The first Virginia SSGN is not expected to be delivered until fiscal year 2029, with the remaining boats following through fiscal year 2038. The Navy will therefore experience a substantial near-term reduction in concentrated undersea strike capacity before the distributed Virginia SSGN fleet reaches its planned strength.

The redesignation comes as the U.S. Navy continues to confront persistent industrial constraints. Virginia class production remains below the level required to meet fleet plans because of workforce shortages, delayed components, supplier limitations, and restricted construction capacity at General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII Newport News Shipbuilding. The submarine industrial base must simultaneously support Virginia production, the priority Columbia class ballistic missile submarine program, fleet maintenance requirements, and future commitments under the AUKUS partnership.

Washington has invested more than $10 billion in the submarine industrial base and is funding new production facilities, workforce programs, supplier expansion, and advanced manufacturing capacity. The Navy aims to reach an annual production rate of one Columbia class and two Virginia class submarines by fiscal year 2031. Whether the industry can achieve and sustain that rate will directly determine how quickly the new SSGN force becomes operational. China, meanwhile, continues to expand the world’s largest commercial shipbuilding base and possesses sufficient industrial capacity to produce large numbers of naval submarines, surface combatants, amphibious ships, and auxiliary vessels. This does not eliminate the qualitative advantages retained by the United States in areas such as nuclear propulsion, acoustic stealth, sensors, and undersea operational experience. It does, however, increase the urgency of delivering new submarines on schedule.

The new designation therefore clarifies how the Navy intends to employ its VPM-equipped Virginia submarines, but it does not by itself resolve the approaching decline in undersea strike capacity. The strategic value of the future SSGN fleet will ultimately depend on whether the United States can build the nineteen planned submarines on time while preserving the broader attack submarine force required for anti-submarine warfare, intelligence collection, and operations in contested waters.

Written By Erwan Halna du Fretay - Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Erwan Halna du Fretay holds a Master’s degree in International Relations and has experience studying conflicts and global arms transfers. His research interests lie in Security and strategic studies, particularly the dynamics of the defense industry, the evolution of military technologies, and the strategic transformation of armed forces.