![]() ![]() Some experts argue that in wartime the United States could upload additional warheads on to SLBMs and then load those missiles on to submarines. There is one place where ballistic missile submarines are clearly vulnerable: in port. But prosecuting an attack on a very quiet submarine is quite challenging, so it is worth analyzing potential attack options to determine the actual risk to the submarine launching a low-yield SLBM. Having spent a large part of my professional career assessing targeting options-ranging from terrorists to buried nuclear facilities, and including mobile missiles and submarines ( PDF)-I am sympathetic to this argument. This revelation will then subject the submarine to counterattack through either conventional or nuclear anti-submarine warfare. Another criticism of the review’s decisions is that the launch of a single SLBM with a single low-yield warhead will compromise the location of the submarine launching it. One issue this presents, which I have addressed elsewhere, is the so-called “ discrimination problem”-the challenge adversaries face in determining whether a launched SLBM is carrying a single low-yield warhead or a massive nuclear strike with several warheads. To use an old WWII movie title, these new fast and powerful Columbia-class submarines will, “Run Silent and Run Deep” in a way they have never before.The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review’s decision to deploy a low-yield submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) has produced intense criticism. This video will give you a sense of what these submarines will look like and what they are capable of. They will eventually replace the 18 Ohio-class boats currently in the fleet. The plan is to produce 14 of these new Columbia-class nuclear-powered submarines. And finally, they will have extensive design improvements in their hulls and in the machinery of their drive systems that will reduce mechanical vibrations and thereby reduce even more their “signature” for potential enemy detection. They will no longer have a periscope system but a camera mast. The communications systems will also be new and improved. They will have improved control stick and auto-pilot systems. It will be an electric drive propulsion system that will make it even quieter than the Los Angeles and the Ohio-class subs. The Columbia-class subs will have a new drive system as well. They will be able to take on more missions as well. This means that the Columbia-class boats will be able to spend more time at sea and less time in dry docks. The Ohio-class boats have to have reactor replacements at the mid-point of their lifetimes. They will have improved nuclear reactors that, again, are designed to last for the boat’s lifetime. The Ohio-class sonar system must be replaced every ten years. These improvements include:Ī better sonar system that will need less maintenance, as it will be designed to last for the lifetime of each boat. The Columbia-class subs will include five improvements over the Ohio-class subs that they will eventually replace. The first one is due to enter the fleet within the next couple of years and is expected to be in service until 2084. These subs will cost somewhere in the area of $7.2 billion per boat and will have 16 missile tubes for the most advanced Trident missiles. They will be capable of reaching depths of 800 feet and will carry a nuclear fuel supply that will carry them through their planned lifetime. They will be able to keep up a 29-mph speed underwater. They are going to be 560′ in length and will have a 42′ beam. The Columbia-class submarines will be bigger yet than the already huge Ohio-class submarines. Submarines, by their very nature, are meant to be silent, deadly, and more difficult to monitor, as they are designed to avoid detection as much as possible. The most difficult part of the triad to attack is the submarine element. The idea of the triad is that no aggressor could knock out all three at the same time, which leaves open the capability to mount a corresponding counterattack if necessary. These submarines are part of the nuclear land, sea, and air triad that defends the United States from nuclear attack. Navy’s submarine fleet consists of 29 Los Angeles-class fast attack submarines and 18 Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarines. ![]()
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