The Navy’s new Virginia-class submarines are projected to run $17 billion over their planned budget through 2030, a problem emblematic of a crisis in the program, the House’s top lawmaker on defense spending disclosed.

“It’s clear that the Navy and shipbuilders have known about this shortfall for at least 18 months” but “Congress was notified just two weeks ago,” Representative Ken Calvert, chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, said in remarks released Thursday before a classified hearing with Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.

The program for a new generation of nuclear-powered subs being manufactured by General Dynamics Corp. and HII “has slipped two to three years” behind schedule “and is experiencing extraordinary cost growth,” Calvert said. The $17 billion shortfall will increase the program’s projected $184 billion total cost if the Navy can’t close the gap by finding ways to cut expenditures.

Several Navy ship programs, including the Virginia class, “are in crisis,” he said. Calvert, a California Republican and usually an enthusiastic supporter of defense programs, lambasted the Navy for what he called a lack of candor in disclosing problems and for poor metrics in overseeing multibillion-dollar programs.