by Molly Little
Rear Admiral William Hilarides, Program Executive Officer Submarines Rear Adm. William Hilarides serves as the sixth Program Executive Officer for Submarines (PEO SUBS). In this capacity, he is responsible for all new-construction submarines as well as the acquisition and life cycle maintenance of submarine weapons, countermeasures, sensors, combat control, and imaging systems. Raised in Chicago, Rear Adm. Hilarides attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science in Physics. He has served in a number of billets aboard submarines, including USS Pargo (SSN-650), USS Gurnard (SSN-662), and USS Maryland (SSBN-738). His at-sea services culminated with command of USS Key West (SSN-722) from May 1998 to November 2000. He also served in several shore billets, including flag lieutenant to Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; personnel assignment officer at the Bureau of Naval Personnel; action officer on the Joint Staff in the Force Structure, Requirements, and Assessment Directorate; and acquisition branch head on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations. In 2002, Read Adm. Hilarides became an acquisition professional and subsequently served as Director, Advanced Submarine Research and Development, and as the conversion manager and then program manager of the SSGN Program. Rear Adm. Hilarides recently discussed the current and future states of submarine acquisition with UNDERSEA WARFARE Magazine. As the Virginia class transitions from an acquisition program into an operational program, can you touch on some recent successes and current and future initiatives? The Virginia class’s transition to an operational program is a huge win for the 8 F A L L 2 0 0 9 U N D E R S E A WA R F A R E
Fleet. In fact, USS New Hampshire (SSN778) recently completed the class’s third pre-PSA [post shakedown availability] deployment. PSA is the maintenance availability we do right after a submarine is built to fix any issues we identified in the boat’s shakedown trials. We’ve actually deployed three of the five commissioned Virginias
Photo by Molly Little
before PSA — which is unprecedented for the Submarine Force, and pretty much for shipbuilding. Also, USS Virginia (SSN774), the first of the class, is now preparing for her first regular deployment this fall. That’s huge. She is done with all of her construction, testing, and modernization and is ready to go do what we designed her to do — which is the business of submarine deployments and missions. Additionally, USS Hawaii (SSN-776) transitioned homeports from Groton, Conn., to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, this summer as part of our force realignment, and USS Texas (SSN-775) also transitioned to Pearl Harbor in the Fall. USS North Carolina (SSN-777) is undergoing PSA now. That’s the operational end of the Virginia class and pretty much touches all five boats that are done so far. The sixth boat, USS New Mexico (SSN-778), will be delivered to the Navy by the end of the year, so it’s all very good news. We’ve had several programmatic successes over the course of the past year or so. First and foremost is the signing of the
