The commander of Naval Submarine Forces last week argued it is “critically important” the government continues supporting the SSN(X) next generation nuclear-powered attack submarine program to maintain its advantage over China.
“The Virginia-class submarine is highly capable, it is by far the most capable nuclear attack submarine that’s ever existed in the world,” Vice Admiral Richard Seif told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. “But that initial design is actually 30 years old and as we continue to develop Block V, Block VI, Block VII and Block VIII Virginias, at some point we’ll need a different form factor with just fundamental differences, so I’d ask for support of the SSN(X) program.”
The Virginia-class submarine is planned to deploy the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile and include a variant of the W80 warhead, the recently announced W80-5, something the National Nuclear Security Administration is already working on.
The 12 member bipartisan commission is a congressionally mandated and appointed body dating back to 2000 to monitor, investigate, and report to Congress on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the U.S. and China as well as provide recommendations for legislative and administrative actions.
The Block V submarines are the first group to include the added mid-body Virginia Payload Module (VPM) section that contains extra launch tubes to increase the SSN’s potential Tomahawk cruise missile complement from 37 to 65 missiles. The VPM-equipped boats are meant to make up for the four retiring Ohio-class guided missile submarines, which converted their nuclear-armed missile payloads to conventionally-armed guided missiles.
The Navy previously said plans for the SSN(X) will include the latest features of Virginia-class submarines, including a larger missile complement.
Seif formally relieved Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher in this role last month as the latter is becoming the first direct reporting portfolio manager for submarines, overseeing both the Virginia and Columbia-class boats.
Seif said beyond the need to sustain and grow submarine capacity and readiness via infrastructure improvements, he named wide area search and sensing as what he would spend extra money on, if given an extra dollar.
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.