The following is the Jan. 26, 2026, Congressional Research Service report, Navy Virginia-Class Submarine Program and AUKUS Submarine (Pillar 1) Project: Background and Issues for Congress.
Virginia-class submarine program. The Navy has been procuring Virginia (SSN-774) class nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) since FY1998, and a total of 41 have been procured through FY2025. From FY2011 through FY2024, they were procured at a rate of two per year. A single Virginia-class boat was procured in FY2025. When procured at a rate of two per year, they have an estimated procurement cost under the Navy’s FY2026 budget submission of about $5.0 billion each. The Navy’s FY2026 budget submission requested the procurement of two more Virginia-class boats.
Although they have been procured since FY2011 at a rate of generally two boats per year, the actual Virginia-class production rate has never reached 2.0 boats per year, and since 2022 has been limited to about 1.1 to 1.2 boats per year, resulting in a growing backlog of boats procured but not yet built. The Navy and industry are working to increase the Virginia-class production rate to 2.0 boats per year, and subsequently to 2.33 boats per year, so as to execute the two-per-year procurement rate, replace three to five Virginia-class boats that are to be sold to Australia under the AUKUS submarine (Pillar 1) project (see below), and reduce the accumulated Virginia-class production backlog. Starting in FY2018, Congress has appropriated billions of dollars of submarine industrial-base (SIB) funding to support this effort.
AUKUS submarine (Pillar 1) project. In September 2021, the Australian, UK, and U.S. governments announced a significant new security partnership, called AUKUS. The AUKUS partnership has two main areas of effort, or pillars. Pillar 1 is a project to (1) rotationally deploy four U.S. SSNs and one UK SSN out of a port in Western Australia; (2) more significantly, sell three to five Virginia-class SSNs to Australia and subsequently build three to five replacement SSNs for the U.S. Navy; and (3) have the United States and UK provide assistance to Australia for an Australian effort to build additional three to five SSNs of a new UK-Australian SSN design to complete a planned eight-boat Australian SSN force. Congress approved enabling legislation for Pillar 1 as part of its action on the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (H.R. 2670/P.L. 118-31 of December 22, 2023). The U.S., UK, and Australian governments are now implementing the earlier stages of the Pillar 1 effort.
In June 2025, it was reported that DOD had initiated a review of AUKUS Pillar 1, and that President Trump supported AUKUS, notwithstanding the initiation of the review. In early December 2025, following the completion of the study, Trump Administration officials publicly affirmed the administration’s support for AUKUS, including Pillar 1. Further details of the review were not publicly disclosed. A December 5, 2025, press report stated: “The Pentagon’s initial review of the AUKUS pact had to be rewritten to conform with US President Donald Trump’s enthusiasm for the agreement.”
Issues for Congress. Issues for Congress concerning the Virginia-class program and AUKUS Pillar 1 include the following: the Virginia-class procurement rate in FY2026 and subsequent years—whether the rate should be two boats per year, or something less than or greater than two boats per year; how the Navy and DOD are using submarine industrial base (SIB) funds that Congress has been appropriating since FY2018, and the impact this funding has had to date on the Virginia-class production rate; a maintenance backlog on in-service SSNs, including the impact of this backlog on SSN capabilities, and steps the Navy plans to take to reduce the backlog; and the potential benefits, costs, and risks of implementing parts (2) and (3) above of Pillar 1, and how those benefits, costs, and risks compare with those of an alternative of procuring up to eight additional Virginia-class SSNs that would be retained in U.S. Navy service and operated out of Australia along with the U.S. and UK SSNs that are already planned to be operated out of Australia under Pillar 1.
The full report is here.
