In the covert strike role, the boats can fulfill a substantial portion of the in-theater Tomahawk missile requirements that are established by regional U.S. military commanders, and thereby permit forward-deployed multimission Navy surface combatants and SSNs to concentrate on other missions. The Polk was retired in 1999 at age 33; the Kamehameha was retired in 2002 at age 36. Trident SSGNs and Navy Transformation. The Bush Administration and other supporters of the Trident SSGN program highlighted the program as an example of defense transformation, citing the conversion of a strategic-nuclear- forces platform into a non-strategic platform, the large number of cruise missiles that an SSGN will carry (which is several times the number that can be carried by a standard Navy attack submarine), and the large payload volume of the boats for carrying future advanced payloads. Others observers demurred, arguing that Navy has converted older SSBNs into SOF-support submarines in the past, that the larger number of cruise missiles that the SSGNs carry is more of a quantitative difference than a qualitative one, and that funding the Trident SSGN program may actually have slowed the transformation of the Navy's submarine force by reducing the amount of funding available for research and development efforts supporting more radical and transformational changes to the Virginia-class attack submarine design. The submarine community intends to maximize the transformational value of the SSGNs by using them as at-sea test beds for new ideas, such as using submarines to deploy large-diameter, highly capable unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). Even if one judges the program not transformational, one might still judge it cost effective in terms of the capabilities it provides and in realizing a full, 42-year return on the original procurement cost of the boats.
Navy Trident Submarine Conversion (SSGN) Program: Background and Issues for Congress. (2008)
2008
7 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch