Navy Looking to Launch Analysis of Alternatives for SSN(X) Within the Next Year

The Virginia-class submarine USS Minnesota (SSN 783) transits the Thames River toward Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn., Nov. 26, 2021. *U.S. NAVY / Chief Petty Officer Joshua Karsten*

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Navy plans to begin a formal Analysis of Alternatives for its next generation nuclear-powered attack submarine, or SSN(X), a senior program official said.

“We are looking at starting an AoA here probably within the next year said Lisa Radocha, executive director of the Navy’s Program Executive Office – Attack Submarines, speaking Jan. 31 on a panel at the Technology, Systems and Ships Symposium conducted by the American Society of Naval Engineers.

Radocha said the Initial Capabilities Document for the SSN(X) is now under development. Research and development funds for the SSN(X) program are in the fiscal 2022 budget.

She said the SSN(X) design will feature increased speed, an increased horizontal payload, improved acoustic superiority, and higher operational availability.

Radocha pointed out that the period between the delivery of the first Virginia-class SSN and the planned delivery of the first SSN(X) will be four decades. She said one of her concerns is holding onto the engineering and design expertise in the shipbuilding industrial base for the SSN(X) program.

The Virginia-class SSN program will total 48 boats. The technological improvements over the seven blocks of the Virginia SSN will help to reduce risk for the SSN(X) program.

Radocha said her focus is creating an “on-ramp” for the SSN(X) program over the next two fiscal years.

Last August, during the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Expo, Rear Adm. (now Vice Adm.) Bill Houston, then-director, Undersea Warfare, Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and now commander, Submarine Forces, labeled the SSN(X) as “the ultimate apex predator for the maritime domain.”

Houston said the SSN(X) has “got to be faster, carry a significant punch, a bigger payload, a larger salvo rate. It’s got to have acoustic superiority and simultaneously we’re going to work on operational availability with respect to maintenance and life of the ship.”

The admiral explained that the SSN(X) is timed to capitalize on the ‘very robust” design team for the Columbia-class SSBN when that program is ramping down amid production of the SSBNs.