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U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class Ryan C. McGinley, Feb. 10, 2006
Navy Plans To Complete Boat Shift By 2010
By Andrew Scutro, Navy Times, 20 Feb 06
By Andrew Scutro, Aboard USS OHIO, Defense News, 13 Feb 06
By Kassie Korich, Central Kitsap reporter, 13 Feb 06
News4Georgia.com, February 13, 2006
Suggests Project Would Help Europe Maintain Its Edge In Conventional Sub Market
By Pierre Tran, Defense News, 13 Feb 06
BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union, 13 February 2006
Story by Naval Education and Training Command Public Affairs, 13 February 2006
U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class Ryan C. McGinley, Feb. 10, 2006
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Feb. 10, 2006) – Crew members aboard the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Louisville (SSN 724) man the submarine’s sail as they return to Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Louisville is returning to its homeport from after completing routine training.
Navy Plans To Complete Boat Shift By 2010
By Andrew Scutro, Navy Times, 20 Feb 06
More submarines will be prowling western waters soon, as the Navy begins shifting its fleet of fast attack boats from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
As part of an overall shift of forces outlined in the recently released Quadrennial Defense Review, 60 percent of the American submarine force will operate in the Pacific by 2010.
The new 60/40 split would put roughly 30 attacks submarines in Pacific home ports such as San Diego, Pearl Harbor and Bangor, Wash., and 20 in Atlantic bases such as Groton, Conn., and Norfolk, Va., according to Navy officials at the Pentagon.
The fleet currently has 53 attack boats, with 53 percent, or 28 boats, in the Atlantic, and 47 percent, or 25 boats, in the Pacific.
The president's fiscal 2007 budget proposal includes the inactivation of four Los Angeles class attack subs and the activation of one Virginia-class boat. The Navy's fleet plan, released Feb. 7, has 53 attack boats in the inventory in 2010, the year the shift will be complete.
Details are being ironed out now, according to Lt. Cmdr. Jensin Sommer, public affairs officer for Submarine Force Atlantic. She could not provide names of subs that will be affected. Sommer said to such an adjustment will mean major movement of boats, crews and families, and involve a nod from lawmakers.
"It's going to require home-port shifts and with that a whole congressional notification has to take place," she said.
A fast attack submarine has a crew of 133. The change does not include fleet ballistic missile submarines. There is an initiative underway to convert the nuclear warheads on the current D-5 Trident missiles to conventional ordnance.
Also in the submarine mix are the four boomers under conversion to guided-missile submarines. Ohio will be home-ported in Bangor, Wash., but forward deployed out of Guam. Florida will home ports in Kings Bay, Ga., but will be forward-based in Diego Garcia.
"Georgia and Michigan home ports have not been announced," Sommer said.
Under QDR, submarine production needs to return to a "steady-state" of two attack boats per year by 2012 at a cost of $2 billion apiece. Support of "engagement, presence and deterrence" is given as the reason for the new submarine force posture.
QDR also expresses concern over the modernization of the Chinese military as a risk to regional stability, noting its investments in submarines, advanced torpedoes and ballistic and cruise missiles.
By Andrew Scutro, Aboard USS OHIO, Defense News, 13 Feb 06
Ohio lurks 60 miles inside Washington.
Submerged at periscope depth in 40 fathoms of water, the Navy’s newly converted guided-missile submarine stalks Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, from deep inside the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Invisible, Ohio’s advantage is obvious.
Peeping at Whidbey Island through his periscope from 12,000 yards offshore, Ohio skipper Cmdr. Michael Cockey can make out the island bluffs beyond a stormy haze.
Modern submarines, including massive fleet ballistic-missile submarines, have long been able to sneak close to shorelines undetected. However, the Ohio and three former boomers now under conversion deliver additional capability.
They can launch people and Tomahawk missiles, not nuclear warheads.
“The added benefit is we can bring Special Forces with us, and they can carry out strikes with the intelligence we get,” Cockey said.
Cockey and his crew can stay underwater for about as long as he wants, conducting long-term surveillance missions, intercepting signal traffic from shore and waiting for targets. They can launch a clandestine SEAL reconnaissance mission or a missile strike. Or both.
Ohio formally returned to service Feb. 7 after being reconfigured from a ballistic-missile submarine to an SSGN. After evaluations and further modifications, it will deploy in late 2007.
Once slated for the scrapyard, the 25-year-old boat will join three younger sisters - Michigan, Florida and Georgia - for another 20 years of service as special operations/guided-missile strike boats.
The Navy plans to spend $4 billion to convert all four boats. Georgia, the last in line, will return to the fleet in September 2007. They will be forward deployed and manned with alternating blue and gold crews of 15 officers and 139 enlisted sailors, with an O-6 in command. Ohio will work out of Guam and Florida will be based in Diego Garcia in 2008.
Rear Adm. Frank Drennan commands Submarine Group 9 at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.
“They’ll be at sea a majority of the time because that’s where they belong,” Drennan said during a media embark Jan. 29. Under the current deployment schedule, ships will spend 100 days in a U.S. home port, then deploy for 73-day cruises with 21-day upkeep periods at the forward base between each cruise.
“When it leaves, it’s gone almost a year,” Drennan said.
As the Navy pushes surface combatants further into the world’s “green water” coastal areas with vessels like the Littoral Combat Ship, the new SSGNs will also operate close to the beach. It’s a dramatic shift from their former duty: poised for nuclear apocalypse in the dark depths of the world’s oceans.
Reconfiguring for SEALs
At the heart of SSGN’s new role is the conversion of its 24 Trident missile tubes. The two tubes closest to the sail have been reconfigured as lock-in/lock-out chambers for special operations forces.
The other 22 tubes can be loaded with seven Tomahawk land-attack missiles apiece for a total of 154.
If a larger special operations mission is anticipated, 15 tubes can be packed with 105 Tomahawks and the unarmed tubes can be used to stow SEAL ordnance and gear.
Depending on the configuration, swimmers can pass straight through the two lockout hatches into the sea, up through the same hatches into a dry deck shelter or, if it gets fully developed, into a minisub known as an Advanced SEAL Delivery System.
During Ohio’s two-year conversion, the landing deck was flared four feet on each side to accommodate two dry deck shelters or the ASDS.
Standing at the top of a converted tube, with the hatch above the only barrier to the sea, Cmdr. Claude Lim looks like he’s standing inside a silo with shower heads. Lim, a SEAL, comes from Naval Special Warfare Group 3 in San Diego, which specializes in operating from the current model minisub.
The 30-inch hatch atop the tube allows the SEALs to push out their combat rubber raiding craft after the lockout chamber has been flooded down.
The shower heads and faucets built into the side of the converted tube allow returning swimmers to rinse their gear of saltwater and then hang it on a powerful dryer down below.
Inside the missile tube compartment, there’s berthing for 66 special operators, in addition to ship’s crew. In a pinch, the SSGN can haul 105 special operators with extra gear lockers and workout spaces for embarked SEALs.
“This is a premier platform for clandestine operators,” Lim said.
While the conversion from ballistic missiles creates room in the tubes themselves, it also creates the rarest commodity in a submarine: open space.
Gone are the bulky inertial navigation machines used to guide the nuclear missiles. The freed-up space behind the control room now accommodates a Battle Management Center for a 30-man mission planning staff.
Using the latest systems available in the fleet, the mission staff can provide, receive and monitor information in real time around the globe, officials say.
And when the command-and-control system is fully installed, the SSGN can act as a submerged command post.
Air Force, Army and Marine special operations forces have shown interest in operating from the SSGN. The presence of a high-flying Air Force officer is perhaps the most unusual.
Capt. Mark McGill, a special tactics officer with the 22nd Special Tactics Squadron based at McChord Air Force Base in Washington, said his troops can use Ohio as a clandestine forward air control and reconnaissance platform. Air Force special operators may also use SSGNs to recover downed pilots. McGill said they’ve even tested hand-launched UAVs to gather targeting data.
Navy Capt. Dave DiOrio works as the program director for SSGN at Submarine Force Headquarters in Norfolk, Va. The potential of SSGN is just being tapped, he said.
Already, testing is under way on how Ohio might leverage unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles, as well as several new forms of ordnance, including the Littoral Warfare Weapon (LWW).
The LWW, essentially a sub-launched AIM-9 Sidewinder missile, would be used defensively against anti-submarine aircraft and small warships. The universal encapsulation system to get the missile or other payload through the water to the surface is still in the works.
“Getting it out of the sub is the final step we’re working on,” he said.
DiOrio said the SSGNs will all see more upgrades, such as night vision and recording capabilities for periscopes.
By Kassie Korich, Central Kitsap reporter, 13 Feb 06
The booming sounds of a 19-gun salute rang through the pier at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor on Tuesday, marking the official return to service of the recently converted USS Ohio.
Now dubbed a “Tactical Trident,” the Ohio underwent transformation from a fleet ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) to a modern guided missile submarine (SSGN). Surpassing its former capability of carrying 24 Trident ballistic missiles as an SSBN, the Ohio is now equipped to carry 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles which have a 1,500-mile range.
Adm. Edmund Giambastiani Jr., vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the second highest ranking officer in the nation, described Ohio’s new capabilities as the “poster children” in what the Quadrennial Defense Review refers to as the capabilities of the future.
He spoke of its forward deployed deterrence and unmatched flexibility and adaptability.
“It’s transforming instead of a transformation,” he said. “It’s not simply a one-time deal.”
The Ohio will serve as a test bed for future submarine payloads with experimentation in unmanned undersea vehicles, submarine-launched unmanned aerial vehicles, undersea and submarine-launched weapons systems and undersea sensors, according to the Navy.
The Ohio is now equipped to carry up to 102 special operation forces (SOF), including Navy Seals.
As part of the Ohio’s conversion, 22 of its 24 missile tubes were retrofitted with Tomahawk launchers with the remaining two converted into lock-in/lock-out chambers to be used by SOF. As an SSGN, the Ohio is now capable of carrying two submersibles known as Advanced Seal Delivery Systems, two dry deck shelters, or one of each.
“We progressed from a PowerPoint view graph to this finished product in less than three years,” said John Casey, president of Electric Boat. “Its capabilities are unmatched by any other ship on this planet ... We know the USS Ohio will serve the nation well.”
Like its motto of “Always First,” the Ohio leads the way as three other Tridents - the USS Michigan, USS Florida and USS Georgia - currently undergo the same SSGN conversion.
The Michigan entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in March 2004 and is expected to rejoin the fleet in December 2006. The Florida and the Georgia are undergoing their conversions at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va. and are expected to rejoin the fleet in April 2006 and September 2007, respectively.
With the conversions currently on schedule the plan is to have the Michigan join the Ohio at NBK-Bangor. The Florida and Georgia are expected to be homeported on the East Coast at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia.
“It’s exciting to see this program unfold,” said U.S. Rep Norm Dicks (D-Belfair) at Tuesday’s ceremony.
A member of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, Dicks was an advocate of the SSGN program.
“This is a tremendous day ... Five years from now when these ships have had more experience we’ll see how they will be utilized in some phenomenal ways,” he said.
News4Georgia.com, February 13, 2006
Two construction projects for Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base valued at $20.2 million are included in President George W. Bush's 2007 fiscal budget, Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., announced Monday.
Funding is included for a $13.64 million Peace Force FAC Auxiliary Support Complex and a $6.63 million Waterfront Security Force Facility.
Kingston said the projects show the president and the Navy are continuing the investment in Kings Bay.
"One of the newly refurbished SSGNs (attack submarine) is scheduled to port at Kings Bay this year," Kingston said. "That means we will have the Tridents and the Navy's newest subs side-by-side. We need to make sure the subs and the weapons they carry are as secure as possible."
Congress must approve the budget before October, when the federal budget year begins.
Suggests Project Would Help Europe Maintain Its Edge In Conventional Sub Market
By Pierre Tran, Defense News, 13 Feb 06
Cooperation between France and Germany on new conventional attack submarines would help consolidate capacity and maintain European leadership in a key sector, said Jean-Marie Poimboeuf, the chief executive of French warship builder DCN.
With worldwide annual sales of only two or three conventional submarines and the prospect of competition from Russia, South Korea and India, Europe should cooperate “or risk losing its leadership in conventional submarines,” Poimboeuf told a Jan. 17 press conference.
DCN is studying various technology concepts, among them a mother ship and two mini subs in a networked system, code-named SMX-22, which could be a basis for future cooperation.
Poimboeuf said DCN felt “closer to Germany than Spain” in contemplating an alliance.
Navantia has chosen Lockheed Martin as a partner on the S-80 boat, although the Spanish shipyard and DCN are cooperating on building the Scorpene small patrol submarine (SSK).
DCN strategy director Jacques Mouysset said the cost of developing a new submarine was 100 million to 200 million euros ($120 million to $240 million), which could be split equally if Germany and France cooperated on a next generation of boats.
The submarine was an “emblematic” product for Germany, he said.
The German naval industry has deep expertise in building attack submarines and competes with France in export markets through Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW), a division of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS).
But before any Franco-German cooperation can take place, TKMS must complete a domestic industrial restructuring by creating specialized yards for warships, submarines and commercial vessels, Poimboeuf said.
That reorganization could take a year or two, but once done, common development on submarines might cut costs and concentrate skills in prime contracting in Europe, he said.
DCN has made Cherbourg, on the Normandy coast of northern France, its designated submarine yard, where it builds nuclear and conventional boats.
But a Franco-German tie-up also needs a common platform, one analyst said.
“For any defense cooperation to work, you need a common program,” said Sash Tusa, analyst at Goldman Sachs. “There is no clear requirement for Germany to cooperate with France on submarines in the medium term. … In our view, DCN would be better off investing its own money to develop a future submarine for export markets.”
Moving To Head Off Competitors
Goldman Sachs estimates the export market for submarines at $90 billion over the next 25 years, with potential orders for more than 200 conventional diesel-electric boats.
“DCN has done very well with Scorpene, and developing a new patrol submarine would strengthen their position relative to India, Korea, Spain and other emerging competitors,” Tusa said. “Two hundred million euros is a small amount of money to invest, given their 2 billion euros of cash resources.”
One of the projects DCN is studying for export is a boat using technology derived from the Scorpene, code-named “Marlin,” company officials said. DCN and Armaris officials declined to comment on the Marlin project.
French daily newspaper La Tribune reported Jan. 11 that DCN’s hopes of selling the Marlin to Pakistan were dashed by a high-level interministerial committee, because a deal with Islamabad would endanger relations with India.
New Delhi ordered in December from Armaris, the DCN-Thales exports joint venture, six Scorpenes worth 2.4 billion euros, armed with anti-ship missiles from MBDA.
A French defense official said Marlin was a DCN project and was not something the government was pushing. “There is a lot of supply and the market is not a gigantic one,” he said. France is not buying any conventional boats, he added.
Besides India, DCN has sold the Scorpene to Chile and Malaysia. The boat draws heavily on DCN’s experience in building nuclear ballistic missile submarines, which require high levels of stealth, passively listening for threats while operating at speed underwater.
The Mother Ship Concept
The current trend is for larger or more capable boats, hence projects such as the Marlin and the SMX-22 concept.
The networked SMX-22 is a compromise between navies’ demand for greater capability and keeping size - and therefore cost - down, said Xavier Itard, DCN’s submarine product manager.
The idea is based on an aircraft carrier operating underwater, with a mother ship acting as a platform from which to launch two mini subs - the undersea equivalent of fighter aircraft - for combat missions.
Under the SMX-22 concept, a mother ship would transport the mini subs to the operational zone and provide the power, fuel and crew for the smaller boats, which would operate independently for 80 hours before replenishing and battery recharge.
The 10-person, 480-ton mini sub would carry mission modules for tasks such as anti-naval operations, intelligence gathering, mine laying and deployment of special forces units.
The 2,700-ton mother ship would stand off at a safe distance but carry anti-ship missiles, land attack capability with a Scalp naval cruise weapon, and anti-air Mica missiles for defense against maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters.
The three boats would support each other through an information grid, Itard said.
Tusa of Goldman Sachs said a mother ship and mini-sub system is a complex solution, with potential appeal only to advanced navies, with needs beyond the essential deterrent mission of a submarine.
BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union, 13 February 2006
Moscow, 8 February: Russia's navy command has approved a project to design and build a next-generation submarine with limited displacement, Anatoliy Shlemov, head of the Defence Ministry's Naval Orders, Deliveries, Armaments and Hardware Department, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday [8 February].
"A submarine of this class will guarantee force protection [boyevaya ustoychivost] to Yuriy Dolgorukiy-class strategic nuclear-powered missile submarines and fulfil other tasks performed by multipurpose nuclear submarines," Shlemov said.
"The displacement of this class of submarines must be 5,000-6,000 tonnes," the military said.
According to him, "the mission has been assigned, and it will be carried out during the development of the state armament programme, which is currently conducted by the Defence Ministry."
"This is what the navy has suggested including in the armament programme, but so far it is only a concept based on the analysis of the Russian navy's submarine forces development in the year of their 100th birthday," Shlemov noted.
He stressed that a tender will be held to determine the enterprise that will be tasked with building the submarines. "Both the Rubin central naval design bureau and the St Petersburg-based Malakhit naval machine-building design bureau have quite interesting developments," he added.
Asked why the missions assigned to the new submarine cannot be accomplished by the multipurpose submarines currently under construction, such as the Severodvinsk, Shlemov said, "The Severodvinsk is an assault submarine, and it is quite expensive, because it carries a lot of armaments, and it would be incorrect and wasteful to use such a submarine for providing force protection of underwater cruisers."
"That is why we have assigned the mission to create a new submarine with limited displacement on the basis of design bureau developments in underwater shipbuilding," he concluded.
Russian Navy Commander Vladimir Masorin told reporters in St Petersburg on 31 January that four submarines will make up the nucleus of the Russian Navy's submarine forces.
"The Borey complex will be the backbone of the strategic submarine forces. A multipurpose nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine (the Severodvinsk - Interfax-AVN) is being built at Severodvinsk shipyards, tests of a diesel-electric submarine (the Lada Project - Interfax-AVN) are nearing completion and the construction of one more submarine is planned," Masorin said.
He declined to name the fourth submarine type.
Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax-AVN website.
Story by Naval Education and Training Command Public Affairs, 13 February 2006
PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Commander, Naval Education and Training Command (NETC) has announced a new graduate education program for Navy officers assigned to headquarters staffs in the Norfolk, San Diego or Washington, D.C. areas. The Master of Science in Systems Analysis (MSSA) degree program from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) will be available via distance learning for selected officers.
The MSSA degree program is a key element of the Professional Military Education Continuum, and addresses the need to properly prepare officers for the new and diverse roles they play when assigned to headquarters staff positions. Applicants for the program should be highly motivated and show great potential for continued growth throughout their career.
“A key aspect of the new MSSA degree is the use of real Navy problems as the foundation for courses, research and capstone events,” said Ann Hunter, NETC Education Branch Head and Point of Contact (POC) for the program. “This degree program provides flexibility through a three-tiered approach: Systems Analysis Certificate Courses, Systems Analysis Core Courses and electives tailored to the unique needs of the officer.”
The initial kick-off for the program will be spring of 2006, and will consist of 25 officers selected from headquarters staffs in Norfolk, San Diego or Washington, D.C.
Participants will attend two courses per quarter for eight consecutive quarters, delivered in a “blended delivery model,” consisting of a combination of Video Tele-Education (VTE) and Web-based (online) distributed learning methods. Officers will be assigned to a full-time billet, but are expected to devote some portion of the workday to complete course requirements. For courses delivered via VTE, officers should expect to devote one half day a week to the course session. Approved electives may be taken from local universities or from several online options through NPS. Costs for tuition, books and fees will be covered by the Navy for this program.
Selected officers must have 24 months available at their current location to complete the program while assigned to the billet, and detailers must be consulted to ensure projected rotation dates can accommodate the program.
Successful completion of the MSSA program will earn a certificate in Systems Analysis and a Master of Systems Analysis degree. A second certificate is also earned in a Systems Analysis context option track approved by the student's sponsor that currently includes defense resource management, information systems technology, space systems, anti-submarine warfare, and information systems and operations. The MSSA is a professional degree awarded for completing a curriculum based on practice of a profession rather than the more general “arts and science” behind the profession.
All potential MSSA applicants are encouraged to visit the NPS Web site for additional information on the program or the Naval Postgraduate School. The program’s Web site is: http://www.nps.edu/DL/NPSO/DEGREE_PROGS/MSA.HTML.
Applications for the initial program must be received no later than 24 February 2006. Additional information and specific application guidelines can be obtained from Ann Hunter, NETC Education Branch Head, 850-452-8956 (DSN 922-8956) or by e-mail: ann.hunter@navy.mil. An additional point of contact is Tom Hazard, NPS Office of Continuous Learning, 831-656-3580 (DSN 756-3580) or by e-mail: trhazard@nps.edu .
For more information on Navy education and training, visit the NETC Web site at https://www.netc.navy.mil.