After years of work in Congress, this week the Navy awarded a $17.6 billion multi-year contract to General Dynamics to build 10 Virginia-class submarines. Senator Reed, the Chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, joined with U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse; U.S. Representative James Langevin, a member of the House Armed Services Committee; U.S. Representative David Cicilline; Electric Boat leaders and employees; and Rear Admiral Kenneth M. Perry, the commander of Submarine Group Two, on May 2nd to celebrate this milestone and salute the skill of Electric Boat employees and their contributions to U.S. national security.
This Block IV agreement will help strengthen U.S. defense capabilities, is cost effective for taxpayers, and ensures a stable workload at the company’s Electric Boat (EB) shipyard in Quonset Point for many years to come. Electric Boat recently signed a new 25-year lease to remain at the Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown and plans to invest $150 million in upgrading their facilities in Rhode Island. EB currently employs about 2,800 workers in Rhode Island and projects they will hire an additional 600 people this year and as many as 3,000 employees at Quonset by 2020 to help build submarines.
