WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp. was awarded the contract to retain its status as "the design agent, planning yard, engineering and technical support for active nuclear submarines," the announcement stated on Friday.
Nearly three-quarters of the contract work will be performed at the subsidiary’s headquarters in the US state of Connecticut, with the remainder to be carried out at other Navy port installations. The work is expected to be completed by September 2018, the Defense Department said.
Electric Boat has a monopoly on the construction and maintenance of the US strategic nuclear missile-carrying and attack-submarine fleet, which President Barack Obama’s administration has pledged to preserve and expand as the most powerful in the world.
In May, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on a visit to the Navy’s submarine base in Groton that the United States must keep its nuclear submarine fleet the most powerful in the world and give it top priority in annual military budgets.
