[JumpCrisscross]

> the Pentagon budget draft request includes construction of just one Virginia-class nuclear submarine for 2025

We’re selling them, right? Presumably not at a loss?

Why does the Congress need to appropriate for a boat Canberra is buying?

[openasocket]

The issue is industrial capacity. Right now the US has enough industrial capacity to deliver maybe 2 submarines a year, and that needs to scale a lot. But that requires the companies involved to build more dockyards, train more workers (this is fairly specialized stuff), etc. Thats a big upfront cost for those companies, and they aren’t entirely sure such investments would pay off, and things like the above budget request underline that hesitancy. Personally I think this is why we need government intervention, more than just throwing money at them and hoping they invest it in industrial capacity.

[JumpCrisscross]

> that requires the companies involved to build more dockyards, train more workers (this is fairly specialized stuff), etc.

I suppose I’m curious for the specific fixed costs General Dynamics is concerned about and why they can’t bake that into the price of the second boat.

[openasocket]

Many of the costs aren’t actually fixed. There’s all those extra workers you’ll need to pay, and training will have to be ongoing to account for turnover. Oh, and this is fairly specialized work, meaning if someone decides to specialize in it they may not have a ton of job opportunities outside of Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls. To even get people to apply you’ll need to increase wages. Even the fixed costs like building some new dry docks and factories could be in the billions. Oh, and you can’t forget everything here has multi-year lead times. Virginia class submarines take 5+ years to build. There are 9 under construction right now per Wikipedia.

[sidewndr46]

You can't build and sell a warship (or submarine in this case) without congressional approval in the US

[JumpCrisscross]

Congress can approve without appropriating.