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Stability came up in a third context during the panel discussion, when Director of Undersea Warfare (OPNAV N97) Rear Adm. William Houston talked about stability in moving directly from designing the Columbia SSBN into designing the next-generation SSN(X).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere SSN(X) is timed is right where we\u2019re coming off that Columbia design team, that very robust design team; we\u2019re going to capitalize on that design team, give that stability. And we\u2019re going to time it such that when Columbia is ramping down in production, we\u2019ll be ramping up in SSN(X) because we\u2019ll have the design and the [research, development, test and evaluation] done,\u201d Houston said, saying the timing was important so that talented design and construction teams can stay in tact as they move from Columbia into SSN(X), rather than industry having to lay off workers and then try to rehire them back later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Houston described SSN(X) as melding traits from several current and former submarine programs, making the continuity and shared lessons learned all the more important for the success of SSN(X).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are looking at the ultimate apex predator for the maritime domain. It is going to be faster, carry a significant punch, bigger payload, larger salvo rate; it\u2019s going to have acoustic superiority. And simultaneous, we\u2019re going to work on operational availability with respect to maintenance. … What are we doing, we\u2019re taking what we already know how to do and combining it together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the Seawolf-class attack submarine was built during the Cold War to have the speed and firepower to go into enemy territory and hunt submarines. The Virginia class was built post-Cold War and meant to have the stealth and sensors to go into shallow waters near shorelines and conduct land-attack strikes or clandestine missions. And the Columbia SSBN is being built to reduce lifecycle maintenance time and cost, with a nuclear reactor that will last the life of the boat instead of requiring a lengthy refueling mid-life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are going to go ahead and put that all together. And that is going to be what I\u2019m going to call SSN(X), the apex predator, because it really needs to be ready for that major combat operations, it\u2019s going to need to be able to go behind enemy lines and deliver that punch. That is going to really, really establish our primacy. It needs to be able to deny an adversary the ability to operate in their bastion regions. And that is what that platform is going to do. And we are confident we\u2019re going to be able to do that because we\u2019ve already built that on those previous platforms. We know how to do that, we just have to mesh it together with one platform. And the systems we have with electronic design tools, the stuff that we\u2019ve already developed, we\u2019re going to capitalize on that,\u201d Houston explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Graney, too, noted how one program\u2019s lessons learned and accomplishments can benefit another program, saying that \u201cour experience with Virginia has helped us strengthen supplier capability, capacity and first-time quality\u201d to reduce risk going into Columbia production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also helped us understand and refine fully electronic design and product development software\u201d that are also being used on Columbia and will be used for SSN(X) as well. And \u201cour Virginia orders have supported growing our workforce and establishing partnerships with our state and local entities to increase training opportunities that support proficiency among our employees, along with higher rates of first-time quality\u201d that will improve cost and schedule performance of any submarine program those employees work on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, Graney said, the Navy needs to finalize the SSN(X) requirements on time to take advantage of the heel-to-toe efficiencies of using the Columbia design team to design SSN(X), for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe conversations I\u2019ve had with Adm. Houston have been along the lines with what he just talked about it: it\u2019s about speed, it\u2019s about punching power, and it\u2019s about acoustic superiority. We\u2019d love to see those requirements get settled down, so that we know exactly what we are designing. And I think we\u2019re getting more and more in sync with each passing day, which I think is great. From my perspective, we\u2019ve got the design team coming off of Columbia right now, so they\u2019re a hot hand, having just developed that, and now\u2019s the time to transition to the new SSN(X) design. We\u2019re ready to go,\u201d Graney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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