I'm definitely not an expert, but nuclear powered submarines can go anywhere in the world to gather intelligence and hit enemy shipping if necessary, are hard to detect and not easy to destroy.Submarines what's the strategic objective?
Anyone know?
Wouldn't extensive missile defense / offensive systems long and short be a better spend?
Pretty well sums it up IMO.I'm definitely not an expert, but nuclear powered submarines can go anywhere in the world to gather intelligence and hit enemy shipping if necessary, are hard to detect and not easy to destroy.
They have the advantage of mobility over land based missile systems whose locations can be determined and therefore targeted.
Just for clarification, the U.S subs have a very mobile underwater arsenal, that can strike land based, sea based and airbourne targets.I'm definitely not an expert, but nuclear powered submarines can go anywhere in the world to gather intelligence and hit enemy shipping if necessary, are hard to detect and not easy to destroy.
They have the advantage of mobility over land based missile systems whose locations can be determined and therefore targeted.
Just for clarification, the U.S subs have a very mobile underwater arsenal, that can strike land based, sea based and airbourne targets.
The SSBN submarines provide the sea-based leg of the U.S. nuclear triad. Each SSBN submarine is armed with up to 24 Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM). Each SSGN is capable of carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, plus a complement of Harpoon missiles to be fired through their torpedo tubes.
The UGM-133A Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), built by Lockheed Martin Space in Sunnyvale, California. Range 12,000km, accuracy 100m.
The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile is a long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile that is primarily used by the United States Navy and Royal Navy in ship and submarine-based land-attack operations Subsonic surface strike missiles with gps and active radar homing guidance.
The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security).
That is the $64,000 question, the last thing the U.S and U.K will risk is having one of their subs in the wrong hands IMO. So whether they are 'our' subs, or their subs with mixed crews and our ports is another thing.It will be interesting just how much tech capability the US will be willing to allow Australian Subs to have.
Australia to buy up to five US nuclear-powered submarines
The US will speed up Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines by arranging for Canberra’s first few subs to be built in the US, according to people familiar with the still-confidential plan.
The arrangement is part of a multifaceted plan to be announced Monday in San Diego at a meeting attended by US President Joe Biden, Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The plan to sell up to five US Virginia-class submarines to Australia is intended as a stopgap to provide Australia with nuclear-powered subs by the mid-2030s.
Submarine production would later shift to Britain and Australia, which would produce a sub with a new design that would incorporate American technology, the people added.
Other facets of the plan call for the US to step up its port visits to Australia in coming years and to establish the capability to rotate American attack subs through Perth by 2027.
All three nations would invest heavily in upgrading the defence industrial base, and Australia might even make a contribution to expanding US capacity to construct submarines.
Good speeches from the leaders at the submarine plan this am. Albo went on a bit too much about jobs and local politicking a bit (which is one of the reasons it's taken so long to come up with a plan) but otherwise he performed well. No big mistakes from Biden which was a surprise. Sounds like a good, but very expensive plan. They hammered on about the fact these things are going to be nuclear powered but not armed, but who knows what's going to transpire by the time the SSN AUKUS gets in the water.
So I wonder why the AUKUS subs will be British designed rather than US designed.
What do the Brits have that the Yanks don't, given that the US Columbia subs are coming soon ?
The plan to acquire between three and five Virginia-Class submarines from the US from the early 2030s a crucial plank in the planned transition to a British-designed ‘SSN-AUKUS” submarine from the early 2040s.
But the purchase of Virginia-class boats will require congressional approval by a future US administration, for which there can be no certain guarantees. That is why the plan includes Australia investing many billions (up to $3 billion in the next four years for starters) in improving the US production line for the Virginia-class boats. This investment will help the US build their submarines faster, but it is also a political sweetener to curry support in Washington for the eventual purchase of the Virginia-class submarines.
The plan seeks to move quickly to ramp up the massive training which will be required for Australia to support, sustain and crew the Virginia boats and then eventually the SSN-AUKUS submarines which will be built in Adelaide.
The planned timelines to acquire these capabilities are aggressive and optimistic, with the Virginia-class submarines planned to arrive in 2033, 2036 and 2039.
Meanwhile the first Australian SSN-AUKUS is scheduled to be completed in Adelaide in 2042 with new boats then built every three years until Australia has eight of them.
So I wonder why the AUKUS subs will be British designed rather than US designed.
What do the Brits have that the Yanks don't, given that the US Columbia subs are coming soon ?
So I wonder why the AUKUS subs will be British designed rather than US designed.
What do the Brits have that the Yanks don't, given that the US Columbia subs are coming soon ?
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