![]() ![]() America’s shipyards are being asked to produce more Virginia-class submarines per year. Rucker and Brown’s statements echo the August 2022 CRS report highlighting the industrial base and maintenance woes plaguing the US Virginia class SSN fleet. He stated that the SSN(X) design emphasizes four top requirements: speed, stealth, payloads and operational availability. He also mentioned that those 32 parts were redesigned, or had their maintenance cycle changed, insinuating those improved parts could possibly be used in the SSN(X). He stated that from over a million parts in the Virginia SSN, only 0.1%, or 32 parts, were found not to perform as intended from a life expectancy perspective. Rucker emphasized that such shortfalls should not happen with the SSN(X). Rucker said that the current number of SSNs in maintenance is too high and that sub maintenance is facing challenges in planning availabilities, work execution and keeping enough spares and materials for repairs on hand.Īt the same conference, Rear Admiral Scott Brown said that the US Navy did not make sufficient investments in repair and maintenance capabilities when designing and acquiring the Virginia class SSN, resulting in the cannibalization of other boats to maintain operational numbers and delays waiting for parts and components that are often unavailable. ![]() The CRS report states that the US Navy estimates the SSN(X)’s price tag at US$5.8 billion per boat, significantly higher than the $3.6 billion for a VPM-equipped Virginia class boat.Īt the Society of Naval Engineers’ annual Fleet Maintenance and Modernization Symposium held this month, Rear Admiral Jonathan Rucker stated that the US currently has 50 SSNs, but 18 are under maintenance and unavailable to operational commanders, as reported in Defense News. The designation “SSN(X)” means that the exact design of the nuclear attack submarine class has not yet been determined, according to an August 2022 US Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.Īlthough the Virginia class is built with incremental improvements called “blocks,” a new design that solves maintenance problems and includes game-changing technologies may represent the development of a new class altogether. The program addresses maintenance woes in its current nuclear attack submarine fleet and reorients US undersea warfare capabilities to great power competition from China and Russia. submarine development.The US is designing its SSN(X) next-generation nuclear attack submarine in a significant shift from procuring Virginia class SSNs to a new class by the 2030s. Tom Clancy’s first novel struck a nerve among the public, what if a Soviet super-sub was lurking in the waters to endanger the east coast of the United States? Reagan said he read the book and as a result, his Department of Defense likely got an earful from the White House about new U.S. ![]() The Hunt for Red October was published in 1984. Moreover, sometimes art inspires defense policy. ![]() military, the navy wanted a sub that could answer these shortcomings. So, in 1983, stoked by President Reagan’s plan to beef up the U.S. The Soviets had the vaunted Akula-class that was deadly silent and could slip down to a depth of 2,000-feet. In the mid-1980s the Soviets had attack submarines that started to rival the nuclear-powered Los Angeles-class of fast-attack boats. The Soviets Were Ahead of the Sub Game Toward the End of the Cold War Let’s take another look at this submarine that is still an ace that can be played by the Navy. The Seawolf is still one to watch even though the program was cut due to the break-up of the Soviet Union – the sub’s original main enemy. But high costs got in the way and only three were built. The fast, nuclear-driven attack sub is truly a marvel meant to challenge the Soviet Union and later the Russians in undersea warfare. It brims with numerous advanced munitions, it’s quiet, and it has thicker hulls to withstand the pressure of deep diving. Navy had builders cram all kinds of goodies into the Seawolf submarine. The US Navy’s Seawolf-class were built to fight Russia in a Cold War Turned Hot: The U.S. ![]()
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