Industry, US Navy begin design work for proposed battleship

The US Navy wants advance procurement funding to buy vertical-launching systems, like those shown here on USS Laboon, for the proposed battleship. (Michael Fabey)

Industry has started working with the US Navy (USN) on the design of the proposed new battleship (BBG(X)), according to Chris Kastner, CEO of HII, one of the shipbuilders working on that effort.

“We're just at the beginning of the design effort with the navy,” Kastner said on 5 May during a quarterly earnings call with investment analysts. “I don't necessarily anticipate competing for those at this point, but we're going to evaluate it based on how they unfold and how the acquisition strategies unfold,” Kastner said.

Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) detailed its intentions in December 2025 to award a sole-source contract to HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding unit and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works for BBG(X) guided missile battleship design, engineering, and design analysis requirements.

This work would provide shipbuilder engineering and design analysis necessary to produce BBG(X) design products in support of navy-led design for BBG(X), including Preliminary Design (PD) and Contract Design (CD). The shipbuilders will assist the government design team in maturing a total ship design, including, preplanned reviews such as System Functional Review (SFR) and Preliminary Design Review (PDR).

The estimated period of performance for these efforts was 72 months.

The USN's fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget request includes about USD1.8 billion for the BBG(X) programme, which includes USD1 billion for advance procurement (AP) for the lead ship and about USD836.9 million for research, development, testing, and evaluation, according to budget documents released on 21 April.