Navy Attack Submarine Force-Level Goal and Procurement Rate: Background and Issues for Congress

The Navy is currently procuring one Virginia (SSN-774) class attack nuclearpowered submarine (SSN) per year. Each submarine currently costs about $2.4 billion. The FY2006-FY2011 Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) submitted in February 2005 proposed maintaining the one-per-year procurement rate through FY2011 rather than increasing it two per year in FY2009, as previously planned. A 30-year Navy force-level projection submitted in March 2005 shows the SSN force declining from more than 50 boats today to 37 to 41 boats by FY2035. A new Navy ship force structure plan to be submitted in early 2006 reportedly may include a total of 48 SSNs. Submarine supporters are concerned that the Navy and DOD are not placing adequate emphasis on attack submarines in Navy force-structure planning and ship-procurement plans. Issues for Congress include the following: What should the attack submarine force-level goal be? At what rate should Virginia-class submarines be procured in coming years? Should the current joint-production arrangement for building Virginia-class submarines be continued or altered? Should the Navy start design work now on a new kind of attack submarine? Congress's decisions on these issues could significantly affect future Navy capabilities, Navy funding requirements, and the submarine industrial base. The next section of this report provides background information on Navy attack submarines and the Virginia-class program. The following section addresses the above issues for Congress.


This package includes following files:

#	File Name	Document Date	Order ID:	Number of Pages	Price
1	RL32418_12_22_2005.pdf	Nov 17, 2005	RL32418	63	$29.95	Add to Cart

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