At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) questioned Vice Admiral Johnny R. Wolfe, Jr., Director for Strategic Systems Programs at the USN, about installing nuclear capabilities into Navy submarines.
01:10I assume we're going to have to have Marines on board.
01:12Usually with nuclear weapons, we provide a contingent, unless that is a decision that does not apply in this case.
01:20We've got to store these weapons.
01:22So my assumption, and I might be wrong, we would carry fewer torpedoes.
01:29This could possibly change the ops tempo of the submarine,
01:33because now we have different systems that we have to maintain that are additional systems.
01:40We're going to be limited in the ports we can go in,
01:43and so maybe even maintenance overseas and resupply could be impacted.
01:50I assume there's going to be additional operator positions for the nuclear enterprise on board.
01:57So what positions are we going to take away?
01:59So if you can go into a little bit about that, and then come back to how this doesn't deter from the primary conventional mission.
02:08Yes, sir.
02:09So acknowledge all your concerns.
02:11We've talked about those in the past.
02:12And so those are all the things, as we work with the fleet,
02:15we are looking at what are the ways that we can architect the system to be able to do just what you said.
02:24Certainly there's going to be, there will be, I would tell you, there's not going to be zero impact.
02:29But as we've worked with the fleet, what we believe is we can come up with the right concepts of
02:34how do I train a crew that can deploy with this weapon to do the things that it needs to do
02:41that doesn't require the rest of the crew doing the missions they would normally do.
02:47Where do these people sleep?
02:48So we're going to work through that, sir.
02:52It's not going to take a large number of folks.
02:54Once you get that weapon on board, and just to address your concern about Marines,
02:59in a submarine environment, we don't need Marines.
03:02We don't need that type.
03:03We know how to do that in different ways.
03:06It's what we do on our SSBMs today.
03:08So we're going to take the best of all of those,
03:11and we're going to figure out how we do that and integrate that with a very small number of additional folks.
03:16And I can tell you, having done this a long time,
03:18it will be a small number of folks that actually have to operate that particular system,
03:23which will be different than all of the other systems that are on board.
03:27So here, and Madam Chair, let me be clear here.
03:31Here's my concern.
03:31I understand we're going to try to do the best job we can at this.
03:35But we have an incredibly capable platform in the Virginia-class submarine.
03:40And we still will.
03:41Well, we do now.
03:42And it's a conventional platform that the Chinese and the Russians pretty much, but definitely the Chinese cannot compete with.
03:53And I'm concerned we come out of this.
03:56And the likelihood that we have to use the conventional part of this, of a Virginia-class submarine in a conflict with China is rather high if we got into a conflict.
04:07But the probability that we would use the nuclear systems aboard this submarine are actually rather low.
04:15So we're going to sacrifice the exquisite capability of this platform.
04:22And it's going to become a little less capable.
04:25I don't know how less capable.
04:26My concern is it could be significant.
04:29My other concern is we've set $2 billion aside for the development of this.
04:34CBO estimates the cost of Slickham N and its overhead.
04:37That $10 billion between 2023 and 2032 of the program began in 2024.
04:43That amount does not cover production costs beyond 2032, nor does it include any of the costs for integrating the weapon system into the submarines, which I think is going to be substantial.
04:58I mean, we're talking about billions of dollars.
05:01And then we have the additional costs beyond that of, you know, security and operations and weapons storage costs.
05:12So I don't think this thing has been fully thought out.
05:15But again, my biggest concern about this, and I am not against having another tactical nuclear option.
05:24I just think the costs, not only the financial costs, but the cost to the conventional submarine fleet, in my view, is too high.
05:36And I come from the aviation background, so it's kind of hard for me to say that I think our conventional submarine force is unmatched anywhere in the world.
05:46And it is something where we have this substantial overmatch with the Chinese, and I feel we're putting it at risk.
