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Ready or not? The SSN(X)

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  • Ready or not? The SSN(X)

    The U.S. Navy is starting early preparation work to design a new nuclear attack submarine to replace the Virginia-class boats (SSN-774) in the 2030s. The new attack boat would become operational in 2044 after the last Block VII Virginias are built.

    “The long range shipbuilding plan is for a new SSN authorized in 2034 in lieu of the eighth block of Virginia-class,” Rear Adm. Dave Johnson, Naval Sea Systems Command’s program executive officer for submarines told the Naval Submarine League Symposium in Falls Church, Va., on Thursday
    “2034 may seem far off, but the design research community needs to take action now.”
    There will likely be an analysis of alternative for the new submarine—which has tentatively dubbed SSN(X) — in about 10 years or 2024.

    That, Johnson said, leaves nine years to identify, design and demonstrate the new technologies the new attack boat will need.

    Johnson said that he has formed a small team to work on a five-year plan to begin to do some of that work. The team will consult with industry and will identify the threat environment and technologies the submarine will need to operate against in the 2050 plus timeframe, Johnson said.

    One of the areas Johnson has already indentified as critical for SSN(X) is integration with off-board systems. Vice Adm. Mike Connor, Commander of Submarine Force, Atlantic (COMSUBLANT), said that future submarine weapons for both the Virginia and the future SSN(X) would be networked extremely long-ranged weapons.

    Some of the concepts include a new prototype torpedo propulsion system from Pennsylvania State University — a torpedo could hit targets that could hit targets more than 200 nautical miles away.

    “I’m not sure I’m mentally prepared to employ a 200-mile torpedo, but I’m going to put some thought into that,” Connor said.

    Connor said that while an attack boat like the Virginia or SSN(X) might launch a torpedo, the targeting data might come from another platform.

    Those other platforms could include an aircraft like an unmanned aerial vehicle launched from the submarine or something like a Boeing P-8 Poseidon. In fact, in the submarine might not even guide the weapon to its target in the terminal phase of the engagement, Connor said.
    Navy Starting Work on New SSN(X) Nuclear Attack Submarine - USNI News

  • #2
    here's a preliminary drawing, that were letting North Korea know about..

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    • #3
      That forward propulsion screw would have terrible hydrodynamic characteristics.
      Last edited by surfgun; 25 Oct 14,, 13:00.

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      • #4
        See attached CBO report, Table 4

        SSN number to shrink to 41 boats! in FY 28-31.
        Document: Report to Congress on U.S. Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding - USNI News

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        • #5
          SSNx may be boomer sized (beam).
          https://news.usni.org/2020/11/02/bwx...columbia-class
          Last edited by surfgun; 05 Nov 20,, 04:27.

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          • #6
            More info on the SSNx. If it is to be eventually funded that is.
            https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...-missile-boats

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            • #7
              Originally posted by surfgun View Post
              There have been some not too detailed descriptions and illustrations released to the public regarding Columbia (US) and Deadnaught (UK) about being designed to utilize modular construction (as was done with Virginia), and about the two designs sharing the same CMC modules, Common Missile Compartment, aka the four tube "quadpack". There has been at least one publicly released photograph of a quadpack under construction (see below borrowed from USNI article).

              I suspect that non-BN variant (SSN?, SSGN?, etc.) could be constructed that shares much with the BN, but with some aspects redesigned for the different application, for example perhaps utilizing some modules different from the design of the quadpack. Money could be saved by reusing much of the same design, by sharing much in common. I suspect that the SSN's very different missions would require more torpedo tubes, maybe some bottom drop mine laying ability, some added dry-shelter for a Seal mini-sub, etc.

              An issue would be the need for scaling up capacity of the industrial base. I don't think that SSP would be willing to add any risk to the BN construction schedule in this.

              Click image for larger version  Name:	4-Pack-with-People-840x630.jpg Views:	0 Size:	129.1 KB ID:	1567836
              Last edited by JRT; 06 Nov 20,, 02:56.
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              • #8
                https://crsreports.congress.gov/prod...odcode=IF11826

                Originally posted by CRS

                Title: Navy Next-Generation Attack Submarine SSN(X) Program: Background and Issues for Congress

                Report#: IF11826

                Author(s): Ronald O'Rourke

                Date: September 15, 2021

                Introduction and Issue for Congress

                The Navy wants to begin procuring a new class of nuclearpowered attack submarine (SSN), called the NextGeneration Attack Submarine or SSN(X), in FY2031. The SSN(X) would be the successor to the Virginia-class SSN design, which the Navy has been procuring since FY1998. The Navy’s proposed FY2022 budget requests $98.0 million in research and development funding for the SSN(X) program. An issue for Congress is whether to approve, reject, or modify the Navy’s funding requests and acquisition strategy for the SSN(X) program.

                Submarines in the U.S. Navy

                The U.S. Navy operates three types of submarines— nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), nuclear-powered cruise missile and special operations forces (SOF) submarines (SSGNs), and nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs). The SSNs are general-purpose submarines that can perform a variety of peacetime and wartime missions.

                Virginia-Class Program

                Since FY2011, Virginia-class SSNs (Figure 1) have been procured at a rate of two boats per year, and a total of 34 have been procured through FY2021. Most Virginia-class boats procured in FY2019 and subsequent years are to be built with the Virginia Payload Module (VPM), an additional, 84-foot-long, mid-body section equipped with four large-diameter, vertical launch tubes for storing and launching Tomahawk cruise missiles or other payloads. When procured at a rate of two boats per year, VPMequipped Virginia-class SSNs have an estimated procurement cost of about $3.4 billion per boat.

                For additional information on Navy submarines, the Virginia-class SSN program, and the Columbia-class SSBN program, see CRS Report RL32418, Navy Virginia (SSN774) Class Attack Submarine Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress, by Ronald O'Rourke, and CRS Report R41129, Navy Columbia (SSBN-826) Class Ballistic Missile Submarine Program: Background and Issues for Congress, by Ronald O'Rourke.

                Submarine Construction Industrial Base

                U.S. Navy submarines are built by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat Division (GD/EB) of Groton, CT, and Quonset Point, RI, and Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding (HII/NNS), of Newport News, VA. These are the only two shipyards in the country capable of building nuclear-powered ships. GD/EB builds submarines only, while HII/NNS also builds nuclearpowered aircraft carriers and is capable of building other types of surface ships.

                In addition to GD/EB and HII/NNS, the submarine construction industrial base includes hundreds of supplier firms, as well as laboratories and research facilities, in numerous states. Much of the material procured from supplier firms for the construction of submarines comes from sole-source suppliers. For nuclear-propulsion component suppliers, an additional source of work is the Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier construction program.

                Figure 1. Virginia-Class Attack Submarine (SSN)
                (for image, see IF11826 dated 15 Sep 2021)
                Source: Cropped version of photograph accompanying Dan Ward, “Opinion: How Budget Pressure Prompted the Success of VirginiaClass Submarine Program,” USNI News, November 3, 2014. The caption states that it shows USS Minnesota (SSN-783) under construction in 2012, and credits the photograph to the U.S. Navy.


                SSN(X) Program

                Program Designation

                In the designation SSN(X), the “X” means that the exact design of the boat has not yet been determined.

                Procurement Schedule

                Under the Navy’s FY2020 30-year (FY2020-FY2049) shipbuilding plan, the first SSN(X) would be procured in FY2031, along with a single Virginia-class boat. In FY2032 and FY2033, the final four Virginia-class boats would be procured, at a rate of two per year. Procurement of followon SSN(X)s, at a rate of two per year, would then begin in FY2034. The 30-year plan’s sustained procurement rate of two SSNs per year would achieve a force of 66 SSNs—the Navy’s current SSN force-level goal—in FY2048.

                A long-range Navy shipbuilding document released by the Trump Administration on December 9, 2020, proposed a new SSN force-level goal of 72 to 78 boats. To meet this goal by the latter 2040s, it projected an SSN procurement rate of three boats per year during the period FY2035FY2041, and two and two-thirds boats per year (in annual quantities of 2-3-3) during the period FY2042-FY2050. A long-range Navy shipbuilding document released by the Biden Administration on June 17, 2021, proposed a new SSN force-level goal of 66 to 72 boats and envisaged increasing the SSN procurement rate years from now to something more than two boats per year.

                Design of the SSN(X)

                The Navy states that
                the SSN(X) will be designed to counter the emerging threat posed by near peer adversary competition for undersea supremacy. Unlike the VIRGINIA Class Submarine, which was designed for multimission dominance in the littoral, SSN(X) will be designed for greater transit speed under increased stealth conditions in all ocean environments, and carry a larger inventory of weapons and diverse payloads. It will also be designed to retain multi-mission capability and sustained combat presence in denied waters, with a renewed priority in the antisubmarine warfare (ASW) mission against sophisticated threats in greater numbers. SSN(X) will be required to defend against threat UUVs [unmanned underwater vehicles], and coordinate with a larger contingent of off-hull vehicles, sensors, and friendly forces.

                (Budget-justification book for FY2022 Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation, Navy account, Vol. 3 [Budget Activity 5], p. 1301.) A Navy official stated in July 2021 that the Navy wants the SSN(X) to incorporate the speed and payload the Navy’s fast and heavily armed Seawolf (SSN-21) class SSN design, the acoustics (i.e., quietness) and sensors of the Virginiaclass design, and the operational availability and service life of the Columbia-class design. (Justin Katz, “SSN(X) Will Be ‘Ultimate Apex Predator,’” Breaking Defense, July 21, 2021.)


                Potential Procurement Cost

                An April 2021 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report states that in constant FY2021 dollars, the SSN(X)’s average unit procurement cost is estimated at $5.8 billion by the Navy and $6.2 billion by CBO—figures that are substantially higher than the $3.4 billion unit procurement cost of a VPM-equipped Virginia-class SSN.

                Issues for Congress

                Issues for Congress include the following:
                • whether the Navy has accurately identified the SSN(X)’s required capabilities and accurately analyzed and incorporated the impact that various required capabilities can have on the SSN(X)’s cost;
                • the potential impact of the SSN(X) program—given the design’s currently estimated unit procurement cost and potential future Navy funding levels—on funding that will be available for other Navy program priorities;
                • whether it would be technically feasible for the SSN(X) to be powered by a reactor plant using low-enriched uranium (LEU), rather than the highly enriched uranium (HEU) used on other Navy nuclear-powered ships, and if so, what impact using LEU in the SSN(X) would have on nuclear arms control and nonproliferation efforts and SSN(X) costs and capabilities; and
                • whether each SSN(X) should be built jointly by GD/EB and HII/NNS (the approach used for building Virginiaclass SSNs and, in modified form, is to be used for building Columbia-class SSBNs), or whether individual SSN(X)s should instead be completely built within a given shipyard (the separate-yard approach used for building earlier Navy SSNs and SSBNs).
                Regarding the third issue above, a January 2020 Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) report to Congress on the potential for using LEU for the SSN(X) that was provided by the Navy to CRS in unclassified form stated:
                It is not practical to substitute LEU into existing naval fuel systems or to design a VIRGINIA Class Submarine (VCS) replacement [i.e., the SSN(X)] around an unproven advanced LEU fuel concept. Developing a newly designed submarine capable of later acceptance of an LEU reactor core would also involve insertion of substantial margin (e.g., increased hull size) that would be difficult to estimate accurately at present and costly to implement. If future United States policy requires a shift to LEU, at least 15 years of advanced fuel development and significant investment would be required. This development timeline makes it impractical to design a lead ship VCS replacement with an LEU reactor while meeting the Navy’s schedule.


                FY2022 Funding Request and Congressional Action

                The Navy’s proposed FY2022 budget requests $98.0 million in research and development funding for the SSN(X) program, including $29.8 million in Project 2368 (SSN[X] Class Submarine Development) within Program Element (PE) 0604850N (SSN[X]), which is line 154 in the Navy’s FY2022 research and development account, and $68.1 million in Project 2370 (Next Generation Fast Attack Nuclear Propulsion Development) within PE 0603570N (Advanced Nuclear Power Systems), which is line 48.

                The House Armed Services Committee’s report (H.Rept. 117-188 of September 10, 2021) on the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4350) recommended approving both of these funding requests. The House Appropriations Committee’s report (H.Rept. 117-88 of July 15, 2021) on the FY2022 DOD Appropriations Act (H.R. 4432) recommended reducing line 154 by $4.98 million for “excess to need” (page 270) and line 48 by $18.082 million for a “Classified adjustment” that may or may not be related to the SSN(X) program (page 266).

                __________________________________________
                Ronald O'Rourke, Specialist in Naval Affairs

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                Last edited by JRT; 24 Sep 21,, 21:52.
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