While the United States is most focused on the lifetime savings from the Columbia-class’s improved nuclear core reactor, for both Russia and China’s next generation of boomers, speed and stealth are key. Meanwhile, Russia expects to complete four Borei-II submarines by 2025, and China will begin constructing Type 096 submarines in several years, both of which will be able to travel at speeds of more than 30 knots – or about 10 knots faster than the new Columbia-class SSBN. The Navy should have 12 Columbia-class boomers by the 2040s, according to General Dynamics, a Navy submarine contractor.Ĭomparing the United States, Russia and China’s nuclear ballistic missile submarines The United States is building its first Columbia-class SSBN to replace the Ohio-class, and the Navy anticipates the lead ship will be completed by 2027. Williams, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior defense researcher at RAND Corporation, who said SSBNs play a major role in the Navy’s big-picture decision making. Navy than SSBN recapitalization,” said J.D. “There is no higher priority for the U.S. Some analysts say that these boomers will be increasingly crucial to the national security strategy of all three nations in the coming decade. They are the guarantors of mutually assured destruction in the event of nuclear war. SSBNs, or “boomers,” hide in the ocean and can launch nuclear ballistic missiles at an enemy anywhere in the world even if the rest of a nation’s nuclear triad of air- and ground-based missiles is destroyed. “The surface of the sea - and the sky above - is an extremely hazardous place in this missile and drone age, while the ocean has remained mainly opaque despite advances in sensor and computer technology,” said Holmes. Combined, these two types of submarines make up the preponderance of what will likely be the future of undersea warfare. ![]() The nuclear ballistic submarines are equipped with nuclear weapons capable of delivering a retaliatory or preemptive strike almost anywhere in the world. They are specifically designed to attack and sink other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. The attack submarines are armed with various cruise missiles designed to hit closer-range land and sea targets. The spending blueprint calls for $32.9 billion for construction of ten attack submarines and $16.7 billion for a new nuclear ballistic submarine. Nearly half of the $106.4 billion of planned Navy shipbuilding between fiscal 20 will go for nuclear ballistic and attack submarines, according to the Navy’s long-range construction plan. That’s very few boats to manage events in the world’s largest body of water.” “So, divide the number of SSNs in the Pacific by three, then look at the map. ![]() The rest are in overhaul, undergoing training, or relaxing after deployment,” Holmes said. “You need to divide the number by two, three, or even more to estimate realistically how many ships are available for duty on any given day. Holmes, professor of strategy at the Naval War College. has likely been underestimating the number of attack submarines it would need in the Pacific, given the heightened potential for conflict in the region, warned James R. ![]() These nations have engaged in territorial disputes in those waters, and China has increased its submarine-intensive military drills as a show of force. As tensions escalated in the South China Sea, these three countries - which boast the world’s largest navies - are aggressively preparing for any potential undersea or nuclear conflict, as they develop or perfect nuclear ballistic submarines (SSBNs) and attack submarines (SSNs).
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