US Navy picks Electric Boat as prime contractor for new sub

GROTON, Conn. (AP) — The U.S. Navy has chosen General Dynamics Electric Boat to be the prime contractor for a new class of ballistic-missile submarines.

The Navy strategy, released Monday night, describes how submarine construction will proceed over the next decade.

Electric Boat is already designing 12 ballistic-missile submarines to replace the current fleet of 14.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat, says Groton-based Electric Boat will perform about 80 percent of the construction work for the ballistic-missile submarines. Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia will do the rest.

The two shipyards build attack submarines under a teaming agreement.

Courtney says the Navy has emphatically declared its submarine construction priorities and now has a plan for achieving them.

He says the strategy means billions of dollars and thousands of jobs for southern New England.