Oceans are crowded with higher percentages of strategic imperatives than in the past, and the American Navy is facing a challenge of enormous proportions – to determine whether it still keeps its leading position in the undersea war or is outdone by the new undersea rivals. To solve the problem, the Navy has developed a program called SSN(X), a daring step to assemble the new generation of nuclear-powered attack submarines. Whatever piece of excellent technology is, there is always a trifecta of issues: technical, industrial, and strategic ones.
To understand why SSN(X) is important, it’s worth stepping back and examining U.S. submarine history. For years, the fleet workhorse had been the Los Angeles-class, valued for its speed, stealth, and Tomahawk missile capability. Seawolf-class came next, a deep-ocean mission-specialized with increased endurance and weapons carriage.
Virginia-class came next, special mission- and coastal operations-tuned, with innovations such as photonics masts and modularity payload tubes. Each subsequent class has been designed to meet new requirements, stretching the boundaries of submarine design and technology. The SSN(X) is built incrementally as the most technologically capable attack submarine ever built.
The Navy will combine the best of all its predecessors’ capabilities: the Seawolf’s speed and firepower, the Virginia’s sensors and stealth, and the Columbia-class’ operational availability and longevity. The break-the-surface submarine will be bigger than any of today’s ships, able to carry more payload, achieve stealth levels that heretofore were unimaginable, and integrate perfectly with high-grade sensor nets and unmanned underwater vehicles.
Ambition is costly. Originally, it was intended to acquire the SSN(X) in 2035, but it was pushed back due to production problems to 2040. One of the reasons, one of many, is to extend the industrial base—shipyard and contractor infrastructure already has its plate full building Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines while maintaining Virginia-class production on schedule. Shortage of trained manpower or essential components can result in a bottleneck in the SSN(X) itself, or even the entire submarine fleet. Cost is also an issue.
The Navy puts the cost per SSN(X) at approximately $5.6 billion, whereas independent estimates put the cost at $7.2 billion, close to twice that of a Virginia-class attack submarine with the Virginia Payload Module. With so many costly programs vying for scarce dollars, lawmakers will have to make difficult choices on defense dollars.
Technologically, SSN(X) will be shaped by digital engineering, artificial intelligence, and high-order analytics. It will counter manned and unmanned threats, operate in highly defended seas, and protect communications across the domains.
Submarine networking is probably the most challenging task. Because radio waves won’t pass through water, the Navy is seeking technology that will translate acoustic signals into intelligence to be picked up by surface ships, planes, and command centers. A success will allow submarines to target other platforms in real-time, a sea transformation in planning submarine-to-sea combat. Allied assistance is part of the program as well.
The U.S., U.K., and Australia AUKUS agreement is not only giving a political model but also an operational model to develop allied submarine capability and provide advanced technology. Australia will be acquiring the Virginia-class submarines and subsequently coproducing a new nuclear-powered submarine, SSN-AUKUS, with the U.S. and the U.K.
This alliance is stimulating investment in shipyards and training programs, and it may very well make its way into the SSN(X). It will need to go hand in hand with cooperative nuclear propulsion, though, which will have to be done with care. Huge coalitions also introduce disputed questions of technology transfer and proliferation that will require diplomacy and masterful management to avoid entanglements. Finally, SSN(X) is a high-risk undertaking to preserve America’s underwater warfare edge.
Its success will rely on consistent appropriations, overcoming past industrial bottlenecks, and taking advantage of allied partnership learning to work. The battle for supremacy beneath the waves has already begun, and the submarine that comes out at last from the SSN(X) program may chart the course of undersea operations for decades to come.