The new specifications include missile tubes and accompanying systems to be used to launch the successors of the current Trident II / D5, used by the United States and Great Britain.
The new class of submarines will have to carry 16 launch tubes each, as opposed to the current 24 of the "Ohio". Each pipe, then, must have a diameter that will go from the current two meters and twenty-one centimeters to three meters and four centimeters, with the ability to launch nuclear and non-nuclear devices.
The United States needs new SSBN submarines. The "Ohio", the only American class to carry out patrolling with nuclear weapons, will begin to retire at the rate of one per year, starting with the 2029 when, that is, they will reach the end of their operational life of 42 years. Britain, on the other hand, bases its nuclear deterrent on the "Vanguard" class. The new missile sector will necessarily be built around the mission of nuclear deterrence, as it remains its primary objective. However, this is unlikely to remain the sole purpose. In fact, some "Ohio" have been converted, for example, to support US special forces.
At present, even France and Russia are already working on the successors of the current ballistic missile systems launched by submarines. To date, the "Ohio" classes in navigation around the globe are 18. Four of them, Ohio, Michigan, Florida and Georgia, were reconverted into 2003 to launch Tomahawk missiles.
The official technical details of the next generation of nuclear-powered ballistic submarines are contained in three volumes by 100 pages written by the US Navy which also requested 159 new specifications.
The guidelines drawn up in the "Ohio Replacement Submarine" program for the new SSBN-X speak of an identical length to the original "Ohio" class, but with eight less missile tubes than the "boomers" currently in service. The new boats will have to remain in service for 42 years. The American Navy, however, aims to build the largest submarine of its arsenal, with a displacement of 20 thousand tons: almost half of the Soviet "Typhoon" (about 45 thousand tons) and the same as the new Russian "Borey". The SSBN-X, the result of sixty million hours of design, will be armed with sixteen Trident II D5 LE (life-extension) intercontinental missiles. The missiles, equipped with a new steering system, will remain in service until the 2042. The current operational service of the 14 "boomers" costs the US Navy 110 million dollars.
The new boats will have to obligatorily have a cost of 4,9 billions of dollars to hull (almost double of an Ohio with a final cost of 2,9 billions of dollars). Mission, to reduce costs far from easy. Suffice it to say that the leader of the 'X' will cost twelve billion dollars.
The Navy, a few months ago, has predicted an average spending of 5,36 billion by boat which, once production begins, will go down to 4,9 billion hulled dollars. The total life cycle cost of all twelve new generation submarines is set at 347 billion dollars. Figures obviously denied by the Congressional Budget Office, which in October of the 2013 estimated its procurement costs in 87 billions of dollars and the billions of dollars for the total cost of development (including research and development) in 100.
However, time is running out considering that the Ohio (photo on the right) will start retiring at the rate of one a year from the 2029. Each boat will have reached the 42 years of service.
This means that the first 'X' will have to be put into production within the 2019, with sea tests scheduled in the 2026 and the first deterrent service between the 2029 and the 2031. However these estimates are absolutely optimistic, considering that the US Navy has already announced that the entire program is two years late. The twelve boats will guarantee the Navy's nuclear strategic deterrent service with ten 'X' submarines always operational and available at any time and two in maintenance.
The new SSBN force will carry around 70 per cent of US nuclear warheads, consecrating the navy as a spearhead of the strategic triad and overshadowing the bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The entry into service of the new "Xs" inevitably overlaps with another major Pentagon expense for the new long-range bomber that is expected to enter service in the 2020 and for which 81 billion dollars have already been allocated. Without considering, finally, that it will be necessary to invest a lot of money for the design of a new ICBM and to keep the Minuteman III in service. Likewise, the USA will not be able to rebuild the new nuclear triad at the same time, probably giving priority to submarines and then to the aeronautics. Without forgetting, finally, that the SSBN-X program could absorb one third of the Navy's total budget for the 2020 / 2030, reducing the ability to purchase other ships and modernize the fleet.
Among the solutions proposed to reduce costs and avoid slowing down other similar programs, the purchase of an SSBN-X every two years, so as to try to reduce the impact of the program on the funds available for other ships or the creation of a fund specific, as happened for missile defense.
In a report from the 2011, the Management and Budget Office (OMB) suggested that the Navy reduce the number of 'X' (from twelve to ten), bringing to twenty the launch tubes on each submarine. This would have saved at least seven billion dollars. Another report from the 2013 by the Stimson Center suggested reducing the fleet of 'X' (from twelve to ten), but with the same launching capacity as sixteen submarine missiles. In this way, the Navy would have immediately saved a billion dollars and another ten in the next decade. In another report of the 2013 Congressional Budget Office, the possibility of reducing the fleet of new submarines to eight boats is analyzed. The savings would amount to 15,7 billion dollars for the 2015-2023 and another forty in the following decade.
According to studies, a force of eight submarines would represent a powerful deterrent force and the ability to have an optimal number of missiles for the First and Second Strike at sea.
Franco Iacch
(photo: BAE Systems, General Dynamics)
