The U.S. Navy has for many years now been vocal and transparent about its submarine fleet deficit, specifically making clear that combatant commander demand for submarines far exceeds available boats.
The U.S. Navy has for many years now been vocal and transparent about its submarine fleet deficit, specifically making clear that combatant commander demand for submarines far exceeds available boats.
This predicament has been anticipated for several years, following the premature cancellation of the Cold War era Seawolf-class boats and the rapid retirement of aging Los Angeles-class boats.
The pace at which Los Angeles-class submarines are ending operational service life cannot be matched by a sufficient number of arriving Virginia-class submarines.
This dynamic, which has been understood for years, was anticipated to worsen in coming years with the pace of retirement of existing boats, and the industrial need to add new Columbia-class nuclear-armed submarines.
The Navy and Pentagon have wrestled with this mounting issue for years, as evidenced by 30-year shipbuilding plans, which have anticipated and tried to mitigate the growing submarine deficit. With this in mind, the Navy has in recent years performed numerous industrial base analyses to determine if indeed the capacity is there to massively increase and “uptick” production of Virginia-class attack submarines.
What happens now?
Source: 19FortyFive - YouTube