Critics worry over attack sub force plan - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Critics worry over attack sub force plan

The Navy’s plan to reduce its submarine fleet by 20 percent will render it unable to meet critical requirements, lawmakers and strategists say.

What’s still a mystery to many is whether the cuts are driven by decreasing missions or decreasing funding — or is this a gamble by the Navy that has a potential payout in the billions?

In the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review, the Navy argued that a 48-attack-sub minimum is a moderate-risk force necessary to provide the roughly 10 subs that combatant commanders need on any given day.

But the 30-year shipbuilding plan released Feb. 1 would drop the current 53 attack subs to a low of 39 in 2030, then stabilize the fleet at 45 through 2040. The plan also eliminates the Navy’s four guided-missile subs in 2028 and replaces the 14 Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarines with 12 new boomers.

“I have real reservations about attack subs hitting a low of 39 boats, which is well below the minimum required,” Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told Navy Times. “We can’t meet the demand that is out there now, and requirements will only continue to grow in the future.”

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