Navy Starts Work on "Breakthrough" New Attack Submarine for 2030s

[Peter1469]

Navy Starts Work on "Breakthrough" New Attack Submarine for 2030s

It will be the most advanced attack sub in the world.

[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]The Navy has begun work on a new generation of attack submarines with never-before-seen weapons, quieting technology, undersea attack drones, sonar and communications networking… to emerge at some point over the next 10 years or more.

[/COLOR][COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)][/COLOR][COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]Will it be the stealthiest, most lethal attack submarine ever to exist? That ….is the Navy plan.


[/COLOR]
[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)][/COLOR][COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]Plans for the new boats, referred to as a new fleet of Block VI Virginia Class-Attack Attack-class submarines, include launching long-range precision strikes, delivering Special Operations Forces on secret high-risk attack missions, conducting ISR missions, networking with platforms and -- perhaps of greatest significance - operating undetected in high-threat waters.

[/COLOR]
[COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)][/COLOR][COLOR=rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.87)]“Block VI will start in 2024. We are currently in the phase of looking at concepts and capabilities and determining their feasibility. Next year we will go through the decision points in terms of requirements of what we want to have in that block,” Capt. Christopher Hanson, Program Manager, Virginia Class Submarines, said at the Navy League’s 2019 Sea Air Space Symposium.[/COLOR]

[Peter1469]

Update: New sub will focus on special operations and unmanned capabilities.

The Virginia-class attack submarine program office is in the early stages of determining what its Block VI design might look like and what payloads it would need to accommodate, the program manager said last week.


After some concerns that the Virginia-class hull design was beginning to run out of margin to add new capabilities, the program office is now spending 2019 looking at its options and will begin to make some final decisions next year, Capt. Chris Hanson said during a panel presentation at the Navy League’s annual Sea Air Space conference.



“We’re currently in the phase of looking at various concepts and capabilities and determining their feasibility for the rest of this year. In about the next year we’ll start going through the decision points in terms of requirements of what we want to have in that lot and out,” Hanson said of the Block VI design, which would go into production in Fiscal Year 2024.


The Tactical Submarine Evolution Plan (TSEP), a plan that maps out desired capability additions and monitors their technical readiness, will guide decisions surrounding what to include in the Block VI requirements. What the program office does know, Hanson said, is that the next iteration of the SSN will focus on special operations forces integration and will add interfaces for unmanned systems and other new undersea weapons.


Hanson said his office is looking at all manner of potential payloads that could be used by the submarine and determining what they would need in terms of power, heating and cooling, communications and more.