CNO: U.S. ‘Gaining Momentum’ To Reach Two SSNs Per Year, Enabling AUKUS Sub Deal
(DEFENSE DAILY 27 JUN 23) ... Rich Abott
The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) this week said the government is trying to get the defense industrial base in a position where it can increase production to reach the current goal of two attack submarines (SSNs) per year plus additional vessels in the future to support Australian sales as part of the AUKUS agreement.
CNO Adm. Mike Gilday said the Defense Department and Congress are putting “significant investment” to support the industrial base, namely adding $650 million to the budget in fiscal year 2023 and another proposed $750 million for FY ‘24, totaling about $3.4 billion over the next five years.
“So a significant investment across a number of different areas, workforce development, shipyard infrastructure, strategic outsourcing to smaller companies to take some of the pressure off the two shipyards; supply chain development,” Gilday said during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event on June 26.
Gilday said the purpose is to put the industrial base “in a position where they can increase their productivity, the priority still being the Columbia-class [nuclear ballistic missile] submarine at one a year, and then two SSNs. So we’re aspirational at this point with respect to reaching the goal of two SSNs a year.”
“But all the indicators we have right now is that we are gaining momentum in terms of closing on that. I can’t give you a specific date when we expect to close on two but we’re headed in the right direction,” he continued.
Virginia-class attack submarines are built by General Dynamics Electric Boat [GD] and HII Newport News Shipbuilder [HII].
Gilday said the point of the American investment to increase submarine production capacity is to put industry in a better place for when the administration and Congress decide to sell Virginia-class submarines to Australia.
As recently as January, Gilday said the industrial base was only producing about 1.2 SSNs per year, far below the two vessel ordering rate.
He noted the Navy is working closely with Congress, presenting legislation they need to pass to enable sales of submarines to Australia and to train Australian crews and submarine workforces so they can ultimately build their own nuclear-powered attack submarines, called SSN-AUKUS.
Gilday underscored that “we do not underestimate the difficulties that lie ahead” but there is a level of “foundational trust” between the U.S.- U.K. and Australian governments he expects will move this forward.
Even within the 30-plus year effort, the CNO said he hopes the close military to military relationships between the countries “provide some sort of a shock absorber, where you can always count on those relationships as being foundational to execution.”
Gilday said it was still too early to tell precisely where the three to five Virginia-class submarines sold to Australia will come from: new vessels, sales of used American boats or a combination of both.
The CNO said the government is also trying to invest in other areas, like additive manufacturing, to help reduce manufacturing costs and for application to the submarine program.
In March, the U.S., U.K. and Australian governments announced the “optimal pathway” to help Australia build and field its own nuclear-powered attack submarines under the AUKUS agreement. The effort aims to replace the aging Collins-class diesel-electric boats.
Last month, the Defense Department submitted three legislative proposals to allow the government to transfer two submarines to Australia, accept Australian funds to improve the submarine industrial base, and allow private sector Australian workers to be trained by the U.S. Navy and U.S. contractors.
Then, earlier this month, three House Democrats introduced legislation along those lines to enable the next steps for AUKUS.
First Australian Submariners Set To Graduate From U.S. Navy’s Nuke School
Australia will need trained ‘nuke’ sailors for its future nuclear-powered submarines, including U.S.-supplied Virginia class types.
(THE DRIVE 26 JUN 23) ... Joseph Trevithick
The first group of Australian submariners to attend the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Power School is set to graduate next week. This is an important step in the Royal Australian Navy's effort to establish a fleet of nuclear-powered, but conventionally-armed submarines, including examples of the U.S. Virginia class. This initiative is a key component of the still relatively new trilateral Australia-United Kingdom-United States defense cooperation agreement, or AUKUS.
Adm. Michael Gilday, the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), the U.S. Navy's top uniformed officer, announced the forthcoming graduation of the initial cadre of Australian submariners from what is colloquially known as the Nuc or Nuke School at an open event hosted by the Central for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) think tank in Washington, D.C. today.
Gilday, as well as Dr. Kurt Campbell, offered additional information about the current state of the Australian nuclear submarine program and how the AUKUS partnership is helping with that, among other things. Campbell is Deputy Assistant to President Joe Biden and Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, a role commonly referred to as the "Asia Czar."
"We graduate our first group of Australian Submariners from our Nuclear Power School in Charleston in just over a week's time," Gilday said. "So we're very proud of that."
"They are all above the mean," Campbell also said of the Australians who are about to graduate. "These are guys that are excelling. And we're gonna double down on this. And that commitment is powerful and impressive."
Neither Gilday nor Campbell said exactly how many Australian submariners would be graduating in total or exactly what their specialization might be. The Nuclear Power School trains individuals to perform different sets of tasks to support the operation and maintenance of nuclear reactors onboard ships and submarines, as you can read more about in this past War Zone feature. At present, the only nuclear-powered surface ships in the U.S. Navy are aircraft carriers.
In the course of their training, the Australians will have gotten hands-on experience with relevant equipment thanks to two ex-Los Angeles class nuclear-powered attack submarines that have been converted into static schoolhouses, as you can learn more about here.
Royal Australian Navy submariners are still years away from sailing on Australian-operated nuclear-powered submarines, but having this training pipeline producing qualified nuke sailors now is an important element of the overall plan.
"It's a phased approach that's been very transparent in terms of our beginning to conduct more port visits with the Australians and a phased approach to then begin forward deploying our submarines, perhaps up to four, out of [the] HMAS Stirling [naval base], near Perth," Gilday explained. The plan is then eventually "to co-crew those [U.S.] submarines with Australians in a very deliberate manner and then, finally, get us to a point where Australia... can then take custody of the sale of U.S. submarines and then eventually produce their own."
The planned forward-deployed submarine contingent is currently referred to as Submarine Rotational Force-Western Australia, or SURF-West. HMAS Stirling, on the West coast of Australia, is a very strategic operating location and would offer American submarines good access to both the Western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.
"All the while, we are working hand-in-glove with them and the U.K., in terms of creating the ecosystem that's so important to maintaining a nuclear[-powered submarine] force," the CNO added.
At present, the initial trio of nuclear-powered submarines for Australia are expected to be U.S.-made Virignia class types, including two obtained directly from the U.S. Navy. The goal is for those boats to start entering service with the Royal Australian Navy in 2032.
These will be followed by the acquisition of five so-called new-production nuclear-powered attack submarines, or SSNs, built in Australia, which will hopefully be completed around 2050. This future class of submarines is currently referred to simply as the SSN-AUKUS. The Australians could ultimately get up to five Virginias in the end, depending on how fast SSN-AUKUS submarine progresses. In that case, just three of the locally-built SSN-AUKUS submarines will be made.
Specific details about the SSN-AUKUS' design remain limited. However, Australian and U.K. officials have said in the past that it will be derived from the British next-generation nuclear attack submarine design intended to replace the Royal Navy's current Astute class. It will also have a significant amount of U.S.-made systems inside that will give it “a high degree of commonality with" the Virginia class.
"We've been working together for 100 years now, over 100 years, and so this would be an obvious evolution in terms of where we go, not only in terms of interoperability," Gilday said at today's CSIS event. "AUKUS takes it to a new level in terms of interchangeability, particularly with SSN-AUKUS, which will be a hull common to two of the three nations, with components, many of the components, that are common to U.S. submarines."
This is all in line with what Australian Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead, the head of his country's AUKUS task force, told Australia's ABC News in March. "SSN-AUKUS is actually quite mature in the design, it's about 70% mature," he explained at that time.
Still, the Royal Australian Navy is set to be a Virginia class operator first and that also makes good sense on a number of levels, including the high degree of interoperability and logistical interchangeability that Adm. Gilday highlighted. Both countries operating Virginia class boats will mean being able to take advantage of common infrastructure. HMAS Stirling, specifically will need very complex and expensive upgrades just to sustain semi-permanent rotational deployments by U.S. Navy Virginias. This could also then help when it comes to supporting U.S. and Australian boats in ports or using assets like U.S. Navy USS Emory S. Land class submarine tenders while forward-deployed during combined operations.
With both countries operating Virginia class submarines, they will also be using many of the same weapons, like the Tomahawk cruise missile, and mission systems, including networking capabilities, that will only further enhance interoperability.
It is worth noting that the AUKUS effort to support Australia's wish to acquire nuclear-powered, conventionally-armed submarines is ambitious and it remains to be seen how it will progress in the coming years. The possibility of acquiring the two additional Virginia class boats would seem to be a hedge against potential delays with the SSN-AUKUS program.
"If AUKUS' ambitions are expansive, so too are the challenges that it faces, including its long-term political support and financial resourcing, the ability to scale up submarine production, the necessity of finding the skilled workers who are going to be building those submarines, the challenges of reforming our regulatory system and the way that we control our most sensitive technology, and, of course, the overriding imperative of providing deterrence now and not in 10 years time," Charles Edel, a Senior Adviser and current Australia Chair at CSIS, highlighted in his introduction to today's event.
At the same time, a Royal Australian Navy nuclear-powered submarine force that can operate very closely together with its U.S. Navy counterparts would offer significant strategic and tactical-level benefits to both countries, along with the United Kingdom and other allies and partners. For the Royal Australian Navy, specifically, there is the added impetus of needing more modern and capable replacements for its six aging Collins class diesel-electric attack submarines. The AUKUS submarine plan also involved the cancellation of a previous multi-billion-dollar deal with French firm Naval Group to produce new diesel-electric boats. That acquisition program had already faced criticism over ballooning costs.
The nuclear submarine initiative also comes as the AUKUS nations, together with others in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere, are looking to challenge and deter a Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) that is growing in both size and overall capability. This includes a steadily expanding Chinese PLA Navy (PLAN) submarine force, which is part of that service's broader ambitions to become a force truly capable of projecting power worldwide.
So, while nuclear-powered submarines for Australia may still be years away from becoming a reality, all three AUKUS countries are clearly committed to that effort. Australian submariners starting to graduate from the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Power School now is an important step toward that goal.
