Key Points and Summary: The Navy’s upcoming Block VI Virginia-class submarines promise a new era of undersea dominance.
-Building on Block V advancements, these subs will incorporate cutting-edge technologies like hypersonic weapons, enhanced stealth for seabed warfare, and advanced capabilities for launching and recovering undersea drones.
-Emerging undersea data networking systems will enable real-time information sharing with air, surface, and land platforms. Key innovations include precision land-attack missiles, undersea wireless communications, and Raytheon’s Barracuda drone for mine countermeasures.
-As the Navy integrates these paradigm-shifting capabilities, the Block VI submarines will enhance U.S. naval superiority in contested waters, addressing evolving threats from adversaries like China and Russia.
Block VI Virginia-Class Submarines: The Future of Undersea Warfare
Hypersonic attack, undersea launch and recovery of drones, massive firepower, subsurface data networking, and clandestine seabed warfare maneuvers are all key operational areas intended for the United States Navy’s Block VI Virginia-class submarine.
Such a concept invites a swirl of unanswered questions and suggests new areas of development and innovation in undersea warfare. How might a Block VI build upon and improve the already high-tech, now under-construction Virginia-class Block V?
While Block V is indeed quite advanced with large aperture bow sonar, fly-by-wire navigation, fiber-optic cables, new weapons, and a massive increase in firepower, there appear to be a few areas where Block VI might advance the possibility curve.
Block V Virginia-class submarines possess a first-of-its-kind Virginia-Payload Module, a new 80-ft section built into the submarine to enable the boat to carry 28 additional Tomahawk missiles, raising the number from 12 – 40. This added capacity is particularly critical given the expected retirement of the Navy’s four SSGN Guided Missile submarines capable of delivering massive amounts of firepower.
Block V Virginia-class boats can also launch unmanned systems from their missile tubes. Yet, a Block VI is likely to further optimize this capability, given the US Navy’s large scale Unmanned Undersea Vehicle acquisition and developmental efforts. An increased ability to launch and recover mine-clearing, enemy sub-hunting drones could prove paradigm-changing in undersea communication, reconnaissance, and targeting. General Dynamics Electric Boat is building the new Block IV virginia Class, an industry powerhouse that delivered what’s called “long lead” items for Block VI in August of 2024.
Block VI, therefore, is likely to be configurable and able to adjust to accommodate different sets of missions, such as tailored “seabed” operations, undersea surveillance, and surprise attack or ambush missions. Should Block VI receive notable innovations to conduct “seabed” warfare, it might be able to navigate in much deeper water along the contours of the ocean floor. Such an ability would increase stealth and, therefore, improve its ability to conduct clandestine missions. Sure enough, an interesting essay from SeaPower magazine quotes Rear. Adm. David Goggins, Program Executive Officer for Submarines, said Block VI will incorporate new seabed warfare capabilities.
“The key thing here is to really enable that organic subsea, seabed warfare capability for the first time,” Goggins said in SeaPower magazine.
Conversely, a Block VI Virginia-Class sub could be tailored to launch a massive precision land attack from hundreds of miles offshore with guided Tomahawk missiles or linger near the surface to optimize air-sea-ground networking.
The most significant differences between Block VI and Block VI may be the special innovations designed to support undersea drone missions and sub-surface networking. These two emerging forces complement one another, as there are increasing methods of technology enabling wireless undersea connectivity and new concepts for enabling undersea real-time data exchange.
Typically, undersea drones need to gather information and return to a host ship to download the collected data. However, undersea warfare innovators are now increasingly exploring real-time undersea data exchange. Data lag has been a great challenge for years, given that GPS and high-frequency RF are not possible underwater.
Several new things technologies are developing. The US Navy is using strong fiber optic cable to connect undersea submarines to drones able to travel to the surface and interface with surface gateway technologies in position to essentially translate acoustic data gathered by submarines beneath the surface into RF signals and other kinds of data links able to share information with air, surface, and land communications nodes.
This line of communication enables the possibility of a submarine to use its long-range, high-fidelity acoustic sensors to gather sensitive threat information and network it to a drone in position to surface and interface with gateway systems in real-time, sending time-sensitive threat data to surface ships, aircraft, and land bases.
Gateways often vary depending on the transport layer technologies and domain. However, they typically use advanced computer technology and IP protocol to gather incoming data, organize it, and move or transition the information from one medium to another.
Yet another area of focus pertains to the use of undersea wireless networking conducted by submerged drones. One arriving drone, called the “Barracuda” by Raytheon, can use undersea wireless communications technology to identify, confirm, and explode undersea mines. Once the Barracuda verifies that a given object is, in fact, a mine, it can autonomously detonate in close proximity to destroy it.
Finally, the area perhaps of greatest significance relates to the expected arrival of hypersonic weapons, as the Navy intends to arm its submarines with the Conventional Prompt Strike weapon before 2028. The arrival of undersea-launched hypersonics introduces a paradigm-changing, high-speed attack advantage.
Virginia-Class: A Photo Essay of An Amazing Submarine

Virginia-Class. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

US Navy Attack Submarine. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Block IV Virginia-class Submarine.

Image of Block III US Navy Virginia-class Submarine.
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
