The U.S. Navy Needs to Build More Attack Submarines
By Daniel Gouré
September 27, 2017, Real Clear Defense
For more than a decade, inadequate defense budgets and a
high operational tempo have forced the U.S. military to shortchange
modernization in order to preserve force structure and near-term readiness.
Even when a service initiates a new major acquisition program such as the Air
Force's F-35 fighter, B-21 bomber and KC-46 tanker, the numbers that will be
procured each year are relatively small. This means that the military will be
required to operate older platforms for years and even decades longer than
planned. These older systems require more maintenance and upgrades to critical
systems, which drain the resources available for modernization.
Nowhere is the problem more challenging than in the
Navy's submarine force. The Navy operates two different fleets of submarines.
One is the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) that constitute
a leg of the nuclear triad. There are 18 Ohio-class SSBNs, 14 of which carry
Trident sea-launched ballistic missiles and four that were converted to employ
sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and are officially designated as
guided-missile submarines, or SSGNs.
The other underwater fleet consists of the
nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs). The SSN fleet is comprised of three
classes. The oldest are the 36 boats of the Los Angeles class. Next are the
three Seawolf-class submarines. The newest of the SSNs and the only one
currently in production is the Virginia class. 13 Virginia-class boats have
been commissioned, and the Navy intends to continue producing them to replace
the older classes of attack submarines.
There is an absolute requirement to modernize both the
SSBN and SSN fleets. The Los Angeles-class boats are reaching the end of their
nominal 33-year service life although life extension of 5 - 10 years is
possible. The oldest of the Los Angeles-class SSNs, the USS Bremerton, was
commissioned in 1981 and the youngest, the USS Cheyenne, was commissioned in
1996. So even with the most optimistic predictions about the Los Angeles class'
service life, the remaining 36 boats will have to be decommissioned over the
next two decades.
The problem for the submarine force is that the need for
attack boats is rising precisely as the Los Angeles class is being retired.
According to recent Congressional testimony, U.S. Pacific Command operates
about half the number of SSNs it requires and this is in peacetime. At the same
time, both China and Russia are building large numbers of advanced conventional
and nuclear-powered attack and cruise missile submarines.
The Navy once believed that 48 SSNs as part of an overall
force level of 308 ships would be enough into the middle of the century. The
Navy's new goal is to maintain a 355-ship fleet, of which 66 would be SSNs. Unfortunately,
the Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan does not build enough Virginias even to
meet the prior, lower goal for the SSN force. At currently proposed building
rates, the SSN fleet will decline to a low of 41 boats in 2029, seven short of
the Navy's original force structure plan and 25 below the new, higher target,
before rising to 51 boats at mid-century.
The problem is even more serious concerning the SSBN
fleet. Originally intended to operate for 30 years, the operational life of the
Ohio-class SSBNs was extended to 42 years with a mid-life nuclear refueling and
overhaul. Nevertheless, the first SSBN will reach the end of its service life
in 2027. Each year thereafter, one additional Ohio-class boat will need to be
retired. The Navy plans to begin construction of the Ohio-class replacement,
the Columbia-class SSBN, in 2021 to ensure that the first of the new submarines
is available for service in 2027.
To maintain the U.S. strategic deterrent, the Navy must
ensure that Columbia-class SSBNs are produced on schedule. At the same time, to
achieve the goal of 66 SSNs in the fleet by mid-century, the Navy must actually
increase their production by nearly a third.
Fortunately, there is a solution. The current plan is to
reduce production of SSNs from two to one in a year when construction of one of
the 12 planned Columbia-class SSBN is initiated. The answer is to keep building
two attack boats a year even when an SSBN is begun and to build three Virginias
in those years without a Columbia. The Navy wants to begin this new strategy by
adding a second Virginia-class boat to the production schedule in 2021.
The Navy is working closely with the two companies that
build SSNs and would be responsible for construction of the Columbia-class
SSBNs, General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) and Huntington Ingalls Industries
(HII). The collaboration produced a report that affirms the possibility of
building both the planned 12 Columbia-class SSBNs and simultaneously increasing
the rate of production of Virginia-class SSNs. Both GDEB and HII have developed
master plans to expand their facilities, hire and train additional workers and
assist their vendor bases in meeting increased demand.
For this strategy to be realized, funding would be
required almost immediately to begin the expansion of facilities and the
induction of additional workers. In addition, GDEB and HII will need to begin
signing contracts with their suppliers for additional materials and long-lead
items.
This plan would have a substantially positive impact on
the global balance of naval power in favor of the United States. The
Columbia-class SSBN will be a highly reliable and secure platform for the
sea-based leg of the nuclear triad. The Virginia-class SSNs are being
continually upgraded as successive blocks of submarines are produced. Newer
blocks have greater reliability, reduced maintenance requirements, improved
sensors and advanced weapons launch capabilities.
The newest Block V Virginia will possess the Virginia
Payload Module (VPM), a group of four large vertically mounted launch tubes
amidships, each of which could accommodate seven Tomahawk cruise missiles or
large sea-launched ballistic missiles. As the Block V Virginias are deployed,
their cruise missile capability will help offset the retirement of the four
Ohio-class cruise missile submarines.
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